Dazzling Gems Daunting Shadows
by JimmyMcRustlin
Summary: Fates inertwined, that of dazzling gems and that of daunting shadows. They are caught in a raging war between faries and demons. Will the shadows disperse, or the gems crack?
1. Loneliness

AN: **This is my first story, so it may be quite riddled with errors and other things that bother you. I hope you can get past that and enjoy.**

The first 4 chapters will introduce the main characters and their backstories. The story may at times progress in a nonlinear fashion, jumping in time. BUT It will have an actual coherent storyline. With that being said, enjoy.

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LONELINESS. That feeling always seemed to accompany her. LONELINESS. For as long as she could remember. LONELINESS. Roxanne realized where she was. She was atop a cliff staring down at a steep incline. One that should she make one false move she would tumble down to her death. She scrambled back into the safety of the hill behind her.

Thoughts raced through her head. How did she get here. What was she about to do. Roxanne couldn't remember anything clearly besides leaving her friend, Edwyn, in that park. She had no idea how long ago that was or what had happened inbetween now and then.

As she looked around she noticed that everything had an ethereal glow under the moonlight giving her an unreal dreamlike feel. She stood up and brushed the dust off of her jacket and pants. She notices a large rip along her sleeve as she brushed dust off. There was no sign of an injury. The rip was clean as if cut by scissors.

Roxanne shook it off and looked down the hill. It was nearly completely covered with trees. She began down the hill, but her foot caught on an overgrown root protruding from the ground. As the dragon slayer lost her balance she hit the ground face first and continued rolling down the hill. She tried grabbing a tree to stop herself but slipped. "Gem scales!" She yelled. As her skin turned to shimmering gems she grabbed a tree and shoved her hand into the dirt. The rough scales against the tree and in the dirt slowed her descent and brought her to a stop.

She stood up, her skin becoming normal and caught her breath. She looked back up at the hill and saw how far she had fallen. "Jesus." The young slayer sighed and continued down the hill. Roxanne spent most of her time thinking, while traversing the hill. As hard as she tried to come up with answers, thinking only brought up more questions. She stopped thinking and focused on on walking.

Before she knew it the land below her feet had leveled out and she was in the middle of a vast forest. As far as she could tell every direction led to the same place. Anxiety built up within her as she realized she was lost. The trees above her head meshed into one large canopy, blocking all of the light. There was no way of telling what time it was or how much time had passed. If not for her heightened senses she would be completely blind and lost.

The dragon slayer calmed herself and began to make her way through the forest, marking her way by scratching the bark off of trees. Eventually after what seemed like days of wandering Roxanne spotted rays of light beaming into the forest. Roxanne bursted into a sprint towards the light and out of the forest. She stopped on a road and looked up at the sky, it was still night.

Roxanne did not know whether to feel worried or relieved, she didn't know if it was the same night she left that hill or days later. It frustrated her to no end, what once seemed trivial made all the difference when lost. Her thoughts were disrupted when her dragon slayer ears picked up conversation coming from down the road. Being weary, she jumped back into the forest and watched. After a while the gruff voices she hear had formed into bodies, a group of bandits. It looked like they had just got out of a fight and were searching for their assailant. The dragon slayer stayed in the cover of the treeline and cautiously watched them. It was a group of about 4. Two men were being carried, as if they were unconcious.

She wanted to avoid a confrontation and get behind them. Roxanne waited for an opening then when one was present she took it. She tried to make her way down the road as quickly, and as stealthily as possible. She was nearly out of sight of the men when she heard a gruff voice call out, "Oi! Look what we have over there, boys. Ain't she just purdy." She couldn't help but cringe at that voice. It held so much sleaze and hatred.

Roxanne, rather than run, decided to hold her own. Something about these men brought about nothing but contempt from her. The bandits, now focusing on her, were grinning and staring her down. Under their gaze she couldn't help by shudder. The tallest of the group called out to her, "Righty now little lady, c'mere withour a fight and I might let you be my personal plaything." The men in the back dropped their unconcious comrades with no regard and cracked their knuckles.

Anger welled up within Roxanne, not just because of their taunting and jeering, but because of their complete lack of empathy for their own. She couldn't handle it anymore. Pulling upon all her magic she let out a fierce Gem Dragon's roar. The men scattered, a few being hit by the roar, and stared at her angrily. "Another goddamn magic user!" Yelled one. Roxanne jumped back a few feet, ready for an attack.

The man, who Roxanne assumed was their leader, got up off the ground and screamed at his men, "What are you doing? Get that bitch and teach her a lesson!" One man leapt foward at Roxanne and swung his fist. Roxanne dodged the fist and as he was distracted let hit him with a gem-covered fist. "Fist of the Gem Dragon!" The man flew backwards, and hit the tree with a loud crunch, splintering the wood.

Grimacing at the rest of the group Roxanne charged at a man coming towards her and threw an uppercut towards him. As he was caught under the chin by a powerful punch, and launched into the air, multiple bandits charged foward in his place. Roxanne had a devious grin as she delivered a kick into the side of one of her assailants and met the other with a Gem Dragon's Elbow, sending them both sailing away.

The dragon slayer was getting cocky and slipped up when meeting her next attacker in combat. She was about to attack when she was caught in the leg with a club. She gasped in pain as she heard a loud crack. She growled and jumped back as best she could. The man with the club licked his lips and swung again. The dragon slayer dodged causing bursts of pain to shoot up from her leg.

Desperate for some opening to escape she let forth a weak roar and turned to get away. Waves of fear burst through her as another bandit yelled, "Not gonna get away that easy missy!" He was coming at her when suddenly he fell limp against the cold ground. Not questioning what happened she limped away as fast as she could. The bandits scrambled around in confusion behind her looking for the person who caused one of their men die. "You again! Show yourself, you cowardly bastard!" He too, shortly joined his comrade cold, and lifeless on the ground.

It was hours later before the adrenaline stopped and the pain of Roxanne's leg stopped her. Ever since she left the sight of the bandits she had been subconsiously following a familiar smell. Only when she stopped did she realize whose scent it was. "Edwyn." She whispered to herself. She made an effort to get past the pain and continue towards his scent. Roxanne limped foward with all her strength, but ended up falling against a tree after a few yards.

Roxanne, laying there, looked up to the sky. The sun was beginning to rise, in any other circumstances, she would have found the orange and purple painting the sky beautiful. She eventually gave way to exhaustion and slept against the tree. The last feeling she had before she slept, was loneliness.


	2. Lost

AN: Oh joy, a new chapter. Not much to say about this one.

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LOST. That word resonated in his mind. LOST. Every moment absorbed in that one word. LOST. Edwyn woke with a start. Dazed and confused he sat up and began breathing heavily. His head was throbbing and he found it hard to breathe. He felt drained of magic and exhausted as if he hadn't slept in weeks. He rested his head on the tree trying to catch his breath.

After his heart had stopped beating so quickly and he found it easier to breathe he stood up and surveyed his surroundings. To his left, trees, a great forest. To his right was a long road, winding its way through the landscape, and beyond that was a great plain that seemed to flatly stretch on for miles.

Edwyn sighed and stretched his legs. They were sore from the awkwar position he woke up from on the ground. Once he was satisfied he began on his way down the road. As he walked he tried to remember why he was there. Most of his memory was a large blur, the last clear memory being in a park with his friend Roxanne. This only brought more questions to his mind, so he shrugged off the thoughts. Focusing only on walking caused time to mesh together, seconds flowed into minutes, and minutes into hours. Nothing seemed coherent anymore.

He did not stop to rest, he didn't stop for anything. He had no idea where he was going or why. Something compelled him to follow this road though. As if his sole purpose was to follow it. He kept at it, walking, step after step. Feet became yards, yards became miles. Those too, flowed together as time did.

Eventually he was snapped out of this cycle that had become familiar to him. This cycle of non-stop walking. He finally came to a fork in the road. Edwyn decided to stop here and rest. The mage looked to the sky and saw that the moon had fallen low in the sky. "Almost sunrise, eh?" He said with a somewhat saddened grin. Something about being alone and lost like this was peaceful, yet saddening.

He looked down from the sky, back at the fork in the road. He pondered which direction to take. As he was about to step to the right he felt a sharp pain in his head. His vision blurred and he dropped to the ground with a thud. When he regained his senses he heard a group of gruff voices arguing. He couldn't make out what they were saying over the sharp ringing in his ears.

Edwyn quickly stumbled to his feet. He got into a defensive stance and eyed his enemies wearily. "Lookee 'ere. I think 'e is gonna try 'n fight." Yelled one from the back. The taunting and laughing that ensued irritated Edwyn, but he didn't attack. There was a group of about 8 bandits before him, most of them large and brutish. He quickly decided that he wouldn't be able to take them all due to his drained magic.

The mage decided to attack first while they were still taunting and chuckling. He slammed his hand into his palm and yelled, "Shadow Make: Hammer!" Some of his little remaining magic ebbed out as a larg hammer formed above the group. He quickly brought it down upon the bandits. Only one took the full blow, some of his bones cracked and he gasped for air before passing out. The rest had dodged. Edwyn noted that they were quite agile for their size.

Not allowing him to attack again a man charged foward. He was wearing brass knuckles and swung at Edwyn. Edwyn tried to dodge, but didn't get fully out of the way. His movements were sluggish due to exhaustion, and he took the attack to the side. Stumbling backwards from the hit he tried to get farther away. The man with the brass knuckles gave him no time and swung again at his face. As quickly as possible Edwyn crossed his arms in front of his face to block the attack. The man was surprisingly strong and pushed Edwyn back a bit.

Edwyn rolled backwards to get away, then as the man charged he swept him under the leg causing him to fall to the ground. Not wasting any time Edwyn delivered a swift blow to the man's face, knocking him out. Edwyn looked back up to see two more men charging, one with a knife, the other with a large hammer. Glaring at them, Edwyn slammed his fist into his palm once more shouting, "Shadow Make: Thorns!" Once more energy flowed out of him, forming black thorns in the sky. As he sent the barrage towards his enemies, the man with the hammer dodged only taking a few in the arm, but the other man wasn't so lucky. He took the rest of the barrage head on and let out his last breath, he shortly fell to the ground with a dulled crunch of the gravel.

The man with the hammer growled furiously and brought his hammer up into Edwyn's ribs. Edwyn's face contorted in pain as his ribs cracked. He fell to his knee and coughed blood. Taking shallow breaths he tried to get up, only to fall back to his knee. The man above him raised his hammer, ready to deliver the final blow. Edwyn closed his eyes, accepting his fate. There was a slight gust as something flew over his head. Gasping for air his would-be kill dropped his hammer into the gravel of the road and crumpled over soundlessly. Edwyn looked up to see the body, and the confused group of bandits.

Summoning all his strength Edwyn stood up. As he began his escape adrenaline shot through his veins dulling the pain and allowing him to run away. All he could hear was muffled yelling of the confused, scared bandits behind him and his heartbeat. Eventually all sound melted away, besides his heartbeat and the thump of his boots on the gravel roads. Once he was out of sight he laid down against a tree. His head throbbed, his heart raced, and he hurt all over. He laid his head back and thought about his situation. He was alone, injured, and lost.


	3. Dazzling Gems

_AN: _Two chapters in one day. What a surprise. Anyways, I was bored so I wrote another chapter. I'm tempted to write one more today, but no promises.

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_Beep. Beep._ Inbetween the solemn beeps of the alarm a little raven haired girl stirs and groans. _Beep. Beep._ Her hand hits the off button, stopping the annoying chirp. Roxanne Winlit, an average 9 year old girl throws off her covers and walks to the bathroom. She goes through her morning routine and gets ready for the day. Once she's ready she walks downstairs into the dining room. "Morning!" Chimed a cheery voice. Roxanne, half asleep, grumbles out a good morning to her mother. She sits down at the table staring at her silverware as a plate of pancakes and bacon is slid in front of her. She rubs her eyes and grabs her fork, then digs into her breakfast.

While she eats her breakfast, Roxanne's mother sits down with a plate of her own and begins to eat. Her mouth still full, Roxanne looks around and asks, "Where's daddy?" "He got a call from a friend earlier, needed help fixing a cart. He'll be home soon." Replied her mother. Roxanne looked back down at her plate and nodded. Soon, after some idle talk with her mother, she had finished her breakfast. Taking up her plate, her mother suggested Roxanne go out and play. She nodded, and got up to go outside.

She stood in her yard, bored, and looked around for something to do. Her house was farther from town, out near the countryside. Because of this, she had no nearby neighbors, let alone friends. She was always pretty lonely. Years ago, because of loneliness she used to play with imaginary friends, but as she had turned 9 recently she did away with that, claiming that imaginary friends were for little kids. She regretted this decision, it brought back her lonliness, but she held to her decision.

Frowning, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, then walked over to a ball. She began kicking it up and down the yard. After a while, she became frustrated and kicked it with all her strength. It went sailing through the yard and bounced into the forest behind her house. She hesitated at first, the forest always intimidated her. The large trees towering above her, the leaves inside blocking out the light. She shook her head, ridding herself of any fears. She was 9 she was a big kid, only babies would be scared of that forest. Roxanne reassured herself with those very thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, she worked her way to the treeline. One step at a time. Anytime she felt fear she would hesitate, only to reassure herself and continue onwards. Before she knew it she was stepping into the depths of the forest. As the darkness enveloped her she had to stop. It worried her that she couldn't see, but she calmed down as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. While still quite dark, she could atleast see.

After a while of searching she spotted the ball. She edged towards it as she felt eyes on her. She grabbed the ball, and looked around for whatever was watching her. A twig snapped and a bush rustled, that sent her over the edge. Terrified she began running towards the edge of the forest. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but she tripped and hit something solid. It didn't feel like a tree. As it caught her and they both fell to the ground, she scrambled backwards. She closed her eyes, hoping whatever it was would go away.

"You should watch where you are going" A cocky voice taunted. Roxanne looked up to see a boy about a year older than her standing there. "Come on, you knocked me over and you won't even apologize? Jeez, you're rude." Said the boy with a large smirk on his face. Roxanne felt embarresed, and also irritated. "S-sorry." She eventually choked out. "Was that so hard?" Asked the boy.

He offered a hand to help her up and said "My name's Edwyn" The raven haired girl grabbed his hand and stood up. "I'm Roxanne." She declared. "What are you doing here in the forest?" Asked Roxanne curiously. "I should ask you the same," Edwyn replied, "But if you must know. I'm out here training, getting used to the darkness y'know." Puzzled, Roxanne questioned him further, "Training, for what?" "Geez, so many questions," Said the boy with an exaggerated sigh, "Well, me and my brother are training with our master to become mages!" Roxanne looked at him with wonder. She had never met a mage before.

"Edwyn!" A voice called in the distance. "Gotta go." Edwyn said. Before he left he added, "Meet me here again tomorrow." Roxanne nodded as he walked off. She was ecstatic, she had just made a new friend. Better yet, he was a mage!

Roxanne had made her way through the forest, marking her way as best she could to remember the spot, and came out into her yard. She came inside and went up to her room. Later her dad came home and they all had dinner. She kept her whole experience earlier a secret. After dinner she went up to bed and slept better than she had ever before.

The next few days Roxanne got up, did her morning routine, ate breakfast, then went out to the forest to meet Edwyn. During these days Edwyn and Roxanne learned a lot about each other, and became the best of friends. For the first time in her life she wasn't lonely. Everything seemd right. Until, one day after meeting Edwyn in the forest, Roxanne had made her way home. Something was wrong, the door was ajar and it was all silent throughout the house.

"Mommy, Daddy?" She called. She made her way upstairs, looking for her parents. She heard crying and faint laughter. She looked into her parents room and saw her mom crying over the limp, cold body of her father. Roxanne choked back a scream at the sight of his body. His eyes were rolled back into his head and there was a large cut across his chest. parts of his clothes were singed and there was a charred area in the middle of his wound. All color had left his body as if drained into some void.

She looked more into the room and saw two men chuckling. One was tall with bright orange hair. The hair looked as if it were flames bursting from the top of his head. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit that too, looked as if it were flames. He had a mark on his pale white neck that looked like the moon with an insidious grin. His faint laughter turned into a stomach-churning cackle as he saw his victim before him. The other man was taller, his bald head almost scraping the ceiling. He wore nothing but baggy, purple pants. He had the same mark as the other man on his chest. He just stared silently.

Roxanne's mother looked at her and mouthed run, between her sobs. The orange haired man looked over at the door and saw Roxanne. Her mother had a look of pure terror, when the man's grin grew even larger and he looked back at her. He mumbled something, then with extreme heat Roxannes mother burst into flames, her skin charring and cracking. Her blood curdling scream carried through the air. As the last of her life left the flames burned out. Roxanne, inbetween sobs, screamed and ran at the men. The men let her hit them then, as the man with orange hair was about to whisper something else that would end Roxanne, the bald man stopped him. "The master may want to see her." He rumbled out, chilling Roxanne to the bone.

The orange haired man grimaced, then grabbed her. She kicked and screamed trying to break free, but he was too strong. "A feisty one." He chuckled out, with a crazed grin. "This'll be interesting." Ignoring her protests and fighting they carried her out of the house. As they were about to leave the bald man stomped with little effort and the house came tumbling down. To cause even more pain the orange haired man set the rubble alight causing pillars of fire and smoke to shoot into the sky.

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It had been 5 years since she was taken, the master of the dark guild that took her allowed her to live. As much as she wanted to be dead, the master knew it caused her pain to live. She was lonely once more, she had lost her parents, she didn't even have her friend Edwyn. She felt no sadness, she was numb to all emotions, besides anger and loneliness.

Her time at the dark guild was torture. She was abused by the people she was forced to serve. Once she had hit 14 the members were allowed to use her as they would. Often whenever she was finally alone she would resort back to imaginary friends to bring her comfort. That time, however, was fleeting. She rarely got rest, besides to sleep a few hours. Then it was back to work, days filled with abuse, violation, mistreatment. There was no break in this routine. The abuse was awful, they would beat her and injure her to the brink of death, then have a masterful healer in the guild restore her to almost pristine condition, just to go through the pain all over again.

One day she was called into the master's office. "Roxanne," he started with a devilish grin, "today will be the start of something new." Confused and untrusting Roxanne thought and thought about what kind of torture was in store for her. "Boys!" He yelled, the same two who had captured her all those years ago filed into the room. "Hold her down!" The master ordered. He pulled out a lacrima. "This here, is a lacrima infused with the powers of a Gem Dragon!" He came closer to her as she fought "You're now gonna become a little experiment of ours." He forced the lacrima into her causing her to convulse as magic flowed within. Unable to handle it, she passed out.

She woke up later, in a dark room, strapped to a bed. She struggled with the straps to no avail. Outside she could hear the guild, this was abnormal, because all rooms were normally far away from the main hall. She laid there for what felt like hours when she heard to men conversing outside the door. She shut them out, only wanting peace and quiet. Roxanne retreated deeply into her thoughts. The now dragon slayer was abruptly interrupted with shocks of pain, she had no idea what was going on, but soon passed out. As her conciousness faded she hear a voice, full of dissapointment, say, "What a shame, the lass couldn't withstand that wee bit of pain."

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Years passed by with a new routine, she was experimented on. Testing the pain threshold of a dragon slayer. She would be put through many tests, only to be healed and sent through them again. She had turned 18 recently, and was ready to put her plan to action, unsure if it was their intention, Roxanne had grown stronger through the experiments. She had been planning for years to try and escape.

The door burst open. "Time for your tests!" Declared a loud, scratchy, voice. Roxanne said nothing, but waited for the machine to kick on. She pretended to pass out prematurely so that they'd shut off the machine. Angered by the miniscule amount of time she lasted. The man who was testing her unstrapped her and brought in the healer. The dragon slayer steeled herself preparing to begin the plan. As the healer finished she pulled upon her magic and let a roar burst from her mouth, knocking both men away.

As she burst into the main room of the guild hall, the mages within shook off the shock then charged foward. Thinking of the years of torture and everything she went through caused anger to radiate from within her, she lost control as her skin became more scale-like and her eyes reptillian. She let out another roar, this one much more powerful due to dragon force, and knocked men into the walls and destroyed pillars. The roof sagged a bit due to the sudden weakening in support. A few beams above groaned and snapped, falling to the floor below. Not wasting any time Roxanne burst her way past every one and blasted a hole in the wall. She jumped through it, not caring about the mages behind her.

As she left that guild, she burst into a full sprint, outrunning all the mages behind her. She began to shed tears, she was free. The torture was over. Her eyes returned to normal, her scales faded. She didn't stop running. She continued for miles until she finally felt safe. Something urged her to go to a place she had heard of. A chance for a fresh start beckoned her. She headed off towards Magnolia.

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AN: (More notes at the bottom? How about that.) Hooray for timeskips and all that. Mah boi Edwyn's backstory is up next.


	4. Daunting Shadows

AN: I mentioned another chapter today, and so I have delivered. Heres to hoping this over abundance of creativity will not cease soon.

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"Wake up." A boy stirred in bed "Wake up!" Edwyn shot up, his black hair astrewn the snow white streaks in it equally messy. "What do you want, Jackson?" Grumbled the sleepy 10 year old. He looked at his brother as he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. The boy with silver hair bounced excitedly at the side of Edwyn's bed. He was a bit older than Edwyn and about 4 inches taller. "Come on, Edwyn!" Jackson yelled. Edwyn, upset at the sudden interruption of his oh so precious sleep, got up and followed his brother.

They both crept down the stairs and looked into the living room. "Alright, Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth. It's settled. I shall begin training your boys as soon as they are packed and ready to come." Said a calm, deep voice, belonging to a tall grey-haired man. There was an air of dignity and power about this man. Edwyn and Jackson bounced excitedly down the stairs and ran in. Their parents, smiling at the joy of the boys, but also sad about sending them away for a few years, told them to greet their new master. They both, somewhat shyly, voiced their hellos and bowed in respect. The man smiled and said, "Hello boys, it is nice to meet you."

"Breakfast is almost done cooking, would you like to join us ?" Asked the mother of the boys. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to stay and talk, but I have no need to eat right now." He replied politely. They all sat down for breakfast, everyone at the table joining in a lively discussion. It was mostly Mr. Tracion getting to know Edwyn and Jackson. Edwyn noted that for a mage dealing in shadows, Mr. Tracion was quite kind and lively.

After breakfast the boys scurried upstairs to pack and get ready to leave. Once finished they came downstairs, exchanging goodbyes and promises to visit with their parents. It was bittersweet for both the boys and their parents. Edwyn and Jackson were fulfilling their dreams of becoming mages, but they were leaving their parents for years to train. Soon, it was time to depart, and depart they did. Into a whole new adventure, a life of excitement.

It took days of walking, but they made it. They made it to their masters secluded home near the forest. The place where they would live and train for years. "Get your things to your rooms, boys. We'll begin training once you're settled." Declared Tracion. Edwyn followed jackson into an empty room with two beds and two stands. There was a closet off to the side that they'd have to share. The window had a view of the forest behind the house. Once they settled in they met their master outside and began their first day of training.

They went through rigorous training regiments. They would begin by adjusting themselves to the dark for a few hours in the forest. Then they would practice channeling magic and learning forms. Lastly they worked on their physical strength. There was little variation in their training, besides sparring every now and then. Even during dinner they would discuss what they learned and other things about training. In even as little time as a few weeks they showed great progress.

One day in the forest Edwyn was exploring more than usual. He had heard someone walking through the forest. Eventually he saw a girl trudging through the forest towards a ball. He was surprised to see someone else in the forest and stepped back. He accidentally snapped a stick and rustled a bush, sending the girl he saw into a panic. He saw her run terrified in his direction. _"Why is she running here?" _Edwyn thought right before she tripped and collided with him. He hit the ground, annoyed with her running into him and got up.

He looked down at her as she scrambled back and said in his cockiest voice, "You should watch where you're going." She looked up at him and offered no response. Edwyn smirked and added, "You knocked me over and you won't even apologize? Jeez, you're rude." He saw her cheeks flush red in embarresment as she squeezed out an apology. Edwyn offered a hand to help her up and said, "My name's Edwyn." The looked up at him, her blue eyes showing some emotion between happiness and irritation. She took his hand and got up then declared, "I'm Roxanne." She looked at him then asked curiously, "What are you doing here?"

Edwyn filled up with pride as he thought about his answer. "I should ask you the same," he replied proudly, "but if you must know. I'm out here training, getting used to the darkness y'know." Her face showing her curiosity, the raven-haired girl asked, "Training for what?" Letting out an exaggerated sigh Edwyn replied, " Well, me and my brother are training with our master to become mages." He waited for other questions when he heard his brother in the distance, "Edwyn!" he called. "I gotta go," Edwyn sighed as he turned to leave, before he left he added, "Meet me here again tomorrow." Then he burst through the forest towards his brother.

As he caught up, Jackson asked, "What where you doing?" Edwyn smiled slyly, "Nothing." Edwyn didn't know why he kept his meeting with Roxanne a secret, but it was too late. This was a secret between friends now. It somehow felt nice to have a friend to meet secretly. Edwyn went through his training anticipating the next day.

For weeks, Edwyn and Roxanne would meet in that same place. They would talk and sometimes Edwyn would show off what he learned. It didn't take long for them to become the best of friends. It was odd, but it made his training all the better. It was probably having someone to interact with besides his brother or master that made it great.

One day, Roxanne didn't show up at the normal place. Edwyn wasn't worried, they both had shown up late before, it was when he smelled smoke that bothered him. He made his way towards where she would always come from. As he exited the forest, he stumbled upon the smoldering ruins of a home. It looked like the fire started the day before and had recently burned out. He feared for the worst, in a panic he slammed his hand into his fist. "Shadow Make: Hand!" He screamed in desperation. A large hand formed and shoved the rubble aside, more and more magic drained out of him.

He finally found the charred remains of two people. Edwyn ran to them and fell to his knees looking at them. They were too big to be his friend, Roxanne. A mixture of emotions ran through him. Relief that she wasnt amidst the rubble, despair that whoever did this probably took her, sadness that he lost his friend, and anger at whoever had done this. He looked to the road and saw two sets of tracks. He followed them, he knew that he couldn't do anything to the men who did this. He didn't care though, he wanted to atleast try.

It was sunset before the hopelessness set in. He had to give up the search and return home. Feeling defeated, exhausted, and upset he trudged his way through the doorway. Jackson stopped him before he went into their room. "Where the hell were you!" Jackson grabbed onto Edwyn and exlpoded, "Do you know how worried we were? Do you know how hard we searched?"

Edwyn shoved his hand off and tried to step into the beedroom, but was stopped again. "Say something!" Jackson yelled once more. "What do you want me to say? What can I say? If you looked for me as hard as you said you must've seen the rubble of that house! My friend lived there! Her parents were dead in that rubble, she was taken off by the people who did it! What do you want me to say?" When Edwyn was done yelling Jackson backed up, not saying a word. He looked worried and sorry for yelling.

Edwyn looked behind him as he heard his master walking up to witness the scene the two boys made. Mr. Tracion gave him a sorrowful, understanding look and told him to get some rest. The young mage had a restless night, full of nightmares and worry. He went through his training the next morning mindlessly.

His sorrow eventually turned into hatred of those who had taken Roxanne, his dream to become a powerful mage replaced with a dream of revenge. He went through his training with a new vigor, advancing at a faster rate than ever before. His brother and master were worried by his anger, he was lost in it. Edwyn changed through the next few months from a careless, cocky boy. Into an angry, spiteful shell of himself.

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After a few years of training Edwyn and Jackson were on the last leg of what they could learn. Before beginning the last part of training, Jackson had been consulted by their master. He was made to promise to watch Edwyn closely and make sure he does not act irrationally or become completely consumed in hatred. Edwyn, now 19, seemed to return to his normal cocky self, but Mr. Tracion could still tell he had a lot of hatred built within.

They were in the middle of a training session when two men had shown up and Mr. Tracion had sent Edwyn and Jackson away. The boys watched from within the house as their master talked to the two men. One was a large bald man, the other a man with bright orange hair. "Asalt, Freichen, I told you to never come here again." Asalt, the man with orange hair, replied with a cackle, "Oh Josiah, how cold."

Jackson grabbed Edwyn by the shoulder as he tried to leave the house. "What are you doing?" He asked. Edwyn didn't answer, he only tried to get past. Jackson looked him in the eyes and spoke seriously, "I have the same feeling you do. These people are dangerous though. If master needs help we'll help him, but if he tells us to run we have to, just wait for now."

"Once I left the guild, you and everyone at the guild promised to leave me be. I have no desire to be involved with you any more." Said, Josiah. Freichen rumbled out, "We have no need of you, nor any desire to trouble you. We have come for that pupil of yours, Edwyn. We've been watching him since he found the rubble of that girl's home. His power has grown exponentially and we must put him down before he grows powerful enough to enact his vengeance." Josiah's face grew grim, "I will not let you lay a hand on any of my students!"

Immense magic energy was released as Edwyn's anger grew. Jackson knew he wouldn't be able to stop him, so he went with him to back him up. Josiah yelled with anger, "Get back inside you fool! I will handle them!" Edwyn ignored him, his magic energy was given a visual form as an aura of shadow surrounded him. Asalt cackled once more, "You think you can beat us? We're S-class mages from the dark guild Moon of Madness!"

Edwyn was no longer in control of his motions, his anger controlling him, he burst foward at an insane speed and jabbed him in the gut. Asalt's face contorted in pain as he coughed. Before he could attack, Edwyn had twisted around and kicked him in the side knocking him over. Freichen was about to grab Edwyn when his hand was stopped by a shadow wall. Josiah grimaced as he tried to hold the wall against Freichen's inhuman strength.

Asalt stood up and stared at Edwyn cackling, "Whooo boy! You're not the pushover I thought you were, this'll be fun." Before Edwyn could attack again he shot four fireballs. Edwyn twitched out of the way of all but one. The last one burned off his jacket, but he was unharmed. He without even saying a word, formed black spheres in the air and sent them foward. Asalt dodged with ease and just laughed. "Remember Edwyn, without using your hands or words your attack is weaker and lacks stability!"

As he was distracted Freichen broke the wall and charged into Edwyn knocking him back. Edwyn, still unable to control himself, recovered with inhuman agility and stopped himself from sliding. He then burst foward again only to be swatted back by Freichen like a fly. The fight was back and forth, Josiah Tracion, Edwyn and Jackson Ainsworth, fighting S-class mages from a dark guild. Eventually, Josiah and Jackson ran out of magic and had to retreat into the forest and watch from a distance, As hard as they tried to get Edwyn, he wouldn't come.

Just as Edwyn was almost done a voice from within called to him. "Do you want to defeat them?" It hissed out. "Yes." Edwyn replied desperately. "Do you want the power to do it?" Edwyn croaked out another yes. "Just give into me completely. I will take care of them for you." And just like that, his control was taken. He was lost inside an empty black void.

Edwyn struggled for what felt like an eternity. He tried as hard as he could to regain control. After a long struggle he finally regained control, at the cost of his memories. He did not lose them, but was moreso locked out of them. Any time he tried to remember his past he was thrown out of his thoughts. All he could remember clearly was the basics of his training, an urge to find a silver-haired man, and a raven haired girl. He traveled, searching for these people, and his search brought him to a certain famous city, Magnolia.

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AN: More notes at the bottom again? Oh boy. So here is where the story will kick in now that we have backstories. Also I think I'll start bringing in some of your favorite familiar characters. (Or atleast try)


	5. Reunion

_AN: _Finally done. I was quite busy so this took awhile. Christ these chapters keep getting larger. I don't mean to write for so long, but I can't help it.

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_ There was a tree glowing beneath the stars. Its leaves slowly moving in the gentle breeze. _Roxanne woke up. She had been having this recurring dream for the past few days of travel. The brief dream seemed to have importance. Roxanne could not tell why. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, ignoring once more the strange dream, and stood up. Another day of traveling, getting closer to her destination , yet it still seemed so far.

Once again she made her way down the road. Once again stuck in silence, the only sound was the crunch of the gravel road beneath her feet. Her days while traveling consisted of almost nothing but walking. She rarely rested, or ate. Only when necessary did she stop to find something to eat. It was hard, she didn't know how to start a fire so she couldn't cook and eat any animals if she caught them. She mostly scavenged for any edible plant she knew of. Even then, her knowledge of plants was miniscule so she had many nights without food.

She was about to stop early when she saw a worn wooden sign stuck into the ground by the road. She walked up to it and read it. _Magnolia. _Looking up to the sky she saw there was still daylight left. Roxanne decided to make her way there. Seeing this sign gave her hope of arriving before sunset. Newly determined she walked quickly. By the time the sun was about to set she looked upon a lively city from a distance. They were celebrating some event. Roxanne began on her way, the last leg of her journey finally coming to an end. She came close to the city when she smelled something. It was familiar, but she didn't remember smelling anything like it. Perplexed, she decided to find the source when she was in the city.

Edwyn had just come to a city, it was hours before sunset and everyone seemed to be celebrating. He made his way inside, the crowds lively and cheering. At some points the density was too much, and he had to wait for it to clear a bit. After wading through the sea of people Edwyn had finally reached an inn. He went to the front desk and got his jewel ready. "Do you have any rooms available?" He asked the woman at the desk. "Yes, we have one more available," She said as she took his money and got his room key, "are you another mage aspiring to join Fairy Tail after their win at the Grand Magic Games?" Edwyn took his key and looked up. "No." He replied bluntly before turning and making his way to his room.

He settled himself in his room and sat on his bed for awhile. It'd been a long time since he felt the comfort of a matress beneath him. Eventually he dozed off. During his nap he dreamed of lone tree. He woke up quickly from his nap, stomach growling and made his way out of the inn. He walked around town before finding a place to eat. He sat down and ordered his food. "Can you believe it? A new guild hall just for us!" Yelled an overly loud voice in the diner. Nobody but Edwyn seemed to be irritated by the yelling. "Oh this is great!" Yelled that same voice, his words slurred because of the food in his mouth. Edwyn looked up to see the source of the voice, a man accross the diner with strange pink hair and a white scarf that seemed to be made of scales. "Natsu," Said a bonde woman sitting at that table, "how many times do I have to tell you to swallow before talking?" They looked to be the same age, but the blonde woman was lecturing the pink haired man as if she were his mother. Amused, Edwyn kept watching this scene. "C'mon Lushi! You're always being a kill joy!" Chimed in a smaller voice. The shadow mage was confused, there was nobody else at that table, besides a cat. The blonde woman began arguing with the voice, when Edwyn realized the cat was talking. Edwyn, shocked, fell out of his seat. The pink haired man whispered, "What a weirdo." before standing up with his cat and the woman and leaving.

Edwyn got up, still confused and surprised by the talking cat, and finished his dinner. He left the diner to walk around the city more. The sun was down and the city seemed to have transformed. The celebrating city he saw hours before had escalated even further. Music sounded all around, confetti and fireworks laced the skies. Amazed with the colors and sound Edwyn kept making his way through the crowd. His attention was taken away from the festivities when he noticed a lone tree in a park. Strangely familiar he was drawn to it. Only when he was close to it with his hand touching the bark did he realize, this was the tree in his dream. Edwyn had never seen this before yet he dreamed it. "Edwyn!" He was pulled from his thoughts as he heard his name being called.

She was walking through the crowd, as much as she tried to enjoy the music and festivities, she could only focus on the urge to find that smell's source. Roxanne felt out of place among everyone. They all were happy and celebrating, she didn't even know why. All those years imprisoned in that dark guild left her in the dark so to speak. She knew nothing of outside events. She continued shuffling around with the crowd, towards the smell. She was close. She looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a lone tree, the one from her recurring dreams. She burst from the crowd and walked towards it. She stopped suddenly, the source of the smell in sight. Touching the tree was her friend from years past. He had grown, but she recognized the snow white streaks in his dark hair. Roxanne had started into a sprint and yelled his name. Finally, familiarity. The one person that had stricken away her lonliness, her best friend. Overjoyed she hugged him when she got there. "It's been too long Edwyn." She sat there hugging him, smiling, feeling nothing but joy. Somehow all the pain and sorrow from years of torture was draining.

"Who are you?" Those words hit her harder than any blow she took from the members of the dark guild. Her hapiness faded into confusion and hurt."Very funny." She said not making any attempt to hide the hurt in her voice. "I'm not joking." Replied Edwyn seriously, confusion prominent in his words. "It's me Roxanne, we... we were best friends. Remember? During your training we'd meet in the woods! C'mon you have to remember." Tears flooded her eyes as she tried to explain. Then came the wors she dreaded, "I'm sorry, I don't know you." The mage said confused. He sat there staring at the sad girl before him for a bit before asking, "How do you know my name?" The dragon slayer, feeling a large mix of emotions, said quietly, "I-I told you. We were best friends, we would always meet in the woods and talk." Looking up at him, she saw the pure confusion on his face and continued, "You... You really don't remember do you?" He offered a small, sad, smile and shook his head.

The girl looked familiar to him, he decided to give her a chance to try and convince him. As much as he wanted to say it was for her sake, it was moreso for him. His memory has been locked and maybe she'd be able to remember his past. He sighed, "Listen, it's getting late and I need to get to my hotel room to sleep. I'd be willing to meet you here tomorrow morning if you'd like to tell me more. It may sound odd, but for some reason I cannot recall anything past a few weeks. Maybe you could jog my memory." Roxanne felt a spark of hope from just those words. She needed a friend, she hadn't had a friend since she first met Edwyn. To lose that hurt her. She nodded in agreement and gave a small smile. "Alright, now wipe those tears out of your eyes. It isn't good to be upset during a celebration like today." He said with the same smirk Roxanne was used to. She wiped the tears from her eyes and genuinely smiled for the first time in years.

Edwyn walked off through the crowd towards the inn. Only as he was walking did he realize the awful condition of her clothes. They were dirty, and her sleeves were ripped. He stopped, only to be shoved onwards due to the momentum of the crowd. It was too late to go back and offer money for her to buy clothes. He felt bad, he didn't even know if she had a place to stay. Though he didn't know her and she was only faintly familiar he felt reponsible as if he had known her forever. Unable to fight the flow of the crowd he ended up at the inn in no time. Edwyn made his way upstairs to the rooms and walked inside his, locking the room behind him. He dropped to his bed thinking over his day. He also tried, as futile as it may be, to scan his memory and remember this girl, Roxanne. The only thing that came to mind when he tried to remember her was a little girl with dark hair and icy blue eyes. The only difference between them was that the little girl cheerful and smiling, and the woman he had just met was quite sorrowful and lonely. She didn't show it at first, but it was just a feeling he got from her. Everything else was still a blur like it had been for weeks, but atleast he had a chance to remember part of his past. This also begs another question, who is the silver-haired man he remembers. Edwyn decided it was time to sleep and laid down for a night of shallow sleep.

Roxanne laid against the tree in the park. She only had a miniscule amount of jewel, not nearly enough to rent a room for the night. Despire it being Fall it was a surprisingly warm night. The dull roar of the crowds and the music had died down. The grand finale of the fireworks had long passed and the streets emptied out. It was quite eerie to see the dimly illuminated streets covered in confetti this empty. It seemed like it was seconds ago that it was filled with celebrating crowds. As she looked at the streets she spotted a blonde woman and her odd dog walking. The jingle of the keys at her side breaking the dead silence. The dog spotted her and pointed her out, "Pun pun!" it cried. The blonde woman stopped, "What Plue?" She asked, looking to see what he was pointing at. Roxanne curled tighter hoping they would continue walking.

Lucy was walking towards her house, after the festivities had finally died. It was insane the party that the whole city threw for them. It was also insane to think that they won the Grand Magic Games, making Fairy Tail the number one guild in Fiore. She was just passing the park when Plue stopped and started pointing at something by the tree. Lucy stared into the darkness, she couldn't make out what her little spirit was pointing at. She started walking with Plue towards the tree when she saw a girl, around her age, curled up tightly. Her clothes were in terrible shape. "Hi." Said the celestial mage trying to get the girls attention, "I'm Lucy!" Roxanne curled tighter trying to ignore her. Lucy frowned, something seemed wrong, she kneeled by her side and smiled "What are you doing out here? Do you have a place to stay?" Roxanne looked up and shook her head, then looked down at the little white dog hopping at her side. Lucy felt bad for the girl, her clothes were in bad condition, she was dirty, she seemed to be quite sad, and not only did she not have a place to stay she didn't seem to have enough money to stay at an inn.

Not thinking of the possible consequences Lucy offered to let Roxanne stay with her for the night. If she was dangerous Lucy had her spirits to fight back. Roxanne untrusting curled up again. Lucy offered a hand, her smile not wavering, "Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you." Roxanne looked at her hand, seeing the mark, it was the mark of Fairy Tail. Her parents always told her about that guild. They told her stories of the great things the guild accomplished. Though it was against what she had learned to trust people, she took Lucy's hand and stood up. Lucy led Roxanne to her home. "Where are you from?" The blonde asked as they walked. "A small place out in the countryside of Fiore." Mumbled Roxanne in response. "Do you have any family?" Lucy questioned further. Roxanne nearly let out a tear, but contained herself, she just shook her head. They spent the rest of the walk in silence.

Upon entering the apartment Lucy turned to Roxanne and said, "You should go take a bath. The bathroom is right over there," She said as she pointed, "take as long as you like. I'll have some clothes waiting on you." "You don't have to give me clothes." The dark haired girl said. Lucy just shook her head, "No it's fine. I have too many pairs of clothes if I say so myself." When Roxanne finished her bath she came out to find a pair of black pants a shirt and a jacket. She got dressed then sat on the couch staring down at her feet. Lucy walked in shortly after and sat next to her. "Are you hungry? I have plenty of food." She said. Roxanne hadn't had a warm meal in a long time. She nodded saying, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble." The blonde stood up to walk to the kitchen, "No trouble at all." Lucy bent down to look into her fridge only to find it nearly empty. She grumbled under her breath, "Natsu, that idiot!" She brought out some food, nearly the last of it due to a certain flamebrain that raided her fridge. She quickly cooked a meal and sat down to eat with Roxanne.

"I would've prepared something better, but a certain idiot friend of mine decided to raid my fridge while I was gone." The blonde sighed. "It's fine, this is deliecious." Roxanned said inbetween mouthfuls. Lucy noticed her canine teeth as she watched her wolf the food down with the same tenacity as the other dragon slayer she knows. She didn't bring it up, it didn't really matter anyways. Lucy got up and said, "Whenever you feel like sleeping you can take my bed." Roxanne nodded and got up. She made her way to the bed and laid down. She fell asleep quickly. It had been a long time since she felt the comfort of a bed.

She woke up in the morning. She hear a loud snoring nearby. It didn't sound anything like a female's snore, but she didn't want to judge Lucy. She looked to the side to see a man she didn't know laying in bed with her. She kicked the strange pink-haired man out, screaming. "Ow! Can't you let me sleep Lucy." He said as he hit the ground. He looked up, rubbing his head, and said with a confused tone in his voice, "You're not Lucy." Speaking of the blonde, she burst into the room when she heard a scream only to find a scared Roxanne staring down at a very confused Natsu. "Natsu you idiot! What are you doing climbing into my bed?" She yelled, feeling quite flustered. "I thought you were there, it was dark and I couldn't see." The dragon slayer replied innocently. "That doesn't make it any better!" She continued berating him. Meanwhile, Roxanne was still on the bed trying to recover from the shock.

Lucy finished berating Natsu and sighed, "Well as long as you're here you might as well join us for dinner." Natsu excitedly burst into the kitchen without a word. Lucy sighed and followed close behind. Roxanne, finally calm, heard a soft breathing. She looked beneath the covers and saw a blue cat. She pet its head as it slept, as she got up to go to the kitchen the blue cat said softly, "Why'd you stop Rushi?" Roxanne fell to the ground in shock only to hear the voice of the pink haired man come from the kitchen inbetween laughs, "She had the same reaction that one guy at the diner had." Lucy just sighed and continued cooking.

As they ate Roxanne opened up a bit more. She told them a small bit of her past, leaving out the dark guild and her parents' deaths. She also learned more about the two mages before her. Despite how he had acted she noticed that Natsu was quite bright and loyal to his friends. As Natsu dug into his third plate of food he noticed that Roxanne had the canine teeth usually belonging to a dragon slayer. "Are you by chance a dragon slayer?" He asked, mouth full of food. Roxanne nodded, remembering how she got these powers. Natsu's eyes brightened and he asked, "What was your dragon's name?" "I wasn't raised by a dragon." Roxanne replied. Natsu, barely hiding his dissapointment replied with an, "Oh." Not pursuing her any further he leaned back and announced he was stuffed. Lucy took the plates and put them in the sink.

After a while longer of talking Roxanne thanked Lucy for letting her to stay and stood up to leave. "Where are you going?" Inquired Natsu. "I'm going to meet a friend." Roxanne said. "Aww, I was gonna take you to the guild to meet my friends," he thought for a while before saying, "You and your friend should stop by the guild later!" Roxanne nodded and said goodbye. She left shortly after and began making her way to the park. She noticed Edwyn already there waiting on a bench. As she aproached he stood up to greet her. They sat down on the bench and began to talk. Roxanne told Edwyn what had happened last night and this morning.

Knowing that Roxanne had a place to stay and got some new clothes made him feel better. He still felt bad about leaving her like that, but atleast she was taken care of. He then remembered the names and descriptions she gave, those were the people he saw in the diner! Who would've known that they were members of that powerful guild. They eventually got onto the subject of his past, what he was waiting for. Roxanne had told him everything that she remembered from talking to him in the forest at a young age. He sat there intently listening, when she had finished retelling what she knew they sat there in silence. Edwyn closed his eyes, his memory somewhat coming back. He confirmed her story with his own freshly unlocked memories. There were still some parts of it that were blurry, but it seemed to add up. Then it was on to her, what had happened with her ever since the last time they met in that forest.

As he brought it up she flinched a bit, all of it flashing back. Thinking about it always hurt. With a sigh she began telling him all that had happened. As she retold it she remembered it even more vividly. Tears were brought to her eyes and after a while she stopped. "You don't have to finish." Edwyn told her as he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "No," Roxanne said, wiping tears from her eyes, "I'm fine." She continued telling what happened, by the time she finished she was crying once more. Edwyn said nothing but put an arm around her trying to calm her. She wiped her eyes and calmed down. "Are you hungry?" Edwyn said to break the silence, "We can go get something to eat." "No," Roxanne shook her head, "I'm not hungry." They sat there a little longer. Once Edwyn was sure she was calm he pulled his arm back and sat back on the bench.

He began thinking again. The mention of her parents and the burnt house also brought memories. Him at a young age, searching for whoever did it, training for vengeance. He remembered the immense grief he went through. Lastly, he remembered faintly a fight with two mages. He assumed that because he remembered them they had something to do with the death of Roxanne's parents and her kidnapping. She stood up suddenly, telling Edwyn of the earlier invitation to visit Fairy Tail. Edwyn stood up and with a smile said, "Well then, better not keep 'em waiting." The two set off together towards the number one guild in Fiore.

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AN: Well well. This chapter had quite a good feel. Interesting in contrast to the abuse I gave the characters in the past two chapters.


	6. Fate

AN: Y'know this chapter felt a LOT shorter when I finished writing it. Anyways, remember the first 2 chapters? Yeah, we're about to revisit that next chapter.

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A dull roar spread through the guild hall as the normal conversations ensued. "So," said a red-headed mage, laying her fork onto her now empty plate, "you invited your friends to come down the the guild?" Natsu nodded, excitement showing on his face. He was anticipating their arrival any moment, he couldn't wait to introduce Roxanne to his other friends. "That's nice of you. Are they mages?" She inquired once more. "Well, Roxanne is a dragon slayer, but I'm not sure about the friend she is bringing." Natsu replied, a large grin spread across his face. She nodded, leaning back into her chair. Not long after, the large wooden doors of the guild creaked open. Mostly everyone ignored it, others gave fleeting glances, as two strangers shuffled reluctantly inside.

Roxanne spotted Natsu, Lucy, and Happy sitting with a woman with bright scarlet hair. She grabbed Edwyn's arm and led him through the maze of tables and people. Eventually they made it there and sat down with the others. Natsu turned to Lucy with a small chuckle, "Her friend is that one weirdo that fell over in the diner!" Lucy gave him a quick jab with her elbow "Natsu that's rude!" The blonde mage turned to Edwyn, "I'm sorry about him, he tends to talk without thinking. Anyways, I'm Lucy!" She outstretched her hand to shake his. They shook hands then Natsu offered his hand, "I'm Natsu!" he said with a large, carefree, grin. Edwyn shook his hand also. "Don't forget about me!" Said the same blue cat he saw at the diner. "Oh, and this is my best friend Happy!" Natsu said. "Aye sir!" Happy exclaimed while jumping. Realizng he hadn't given his name, Edwyn introduced himself to the mages sitting around the table. Lastly, they came to the red-headed woman at the end of the table. The S-class mage introduced herself, "I'm Erza," she said with a small smile, "nice to meet you."

They spent a while talking, Edwyn enjoyed the friendly company. They discussed general things mostly, but got onto the subject of magic. They talked about what magic they used and other, less interesting things. It never really occurred to Edwyn, or even Roxanne, for that matter, that they were speaking to some of the most famous, powerful mages in Fiore. Not just speaking to them, but having a conversation as just continued talking, laughing, and having a good time. They went through quite a lot of things, from funny stories to magic. They eventually made it to guilds quite a while into the conversation. "So, are you guys a part of a guild?" Natsu asked. Both Edwyn and Roxanne shook their heads no. This caused the pink-haired dragon slayer to stop and think. All was quiet at the table for what was only a few seconds. Finally he spoke up, "You guys should join Fairy Tail!" Taken aback by his invitation Edwyn and Roxanne stayed silent. It made no sense, meeting these people by chance, then suddenly being told by a mage from Fiore's top guild that they should join.

Roxanne was the first to speak, "Are you sure?" she asked surprise obvious in her voice. Natsu nodded with pure certainty, Erza and Lucy voicing their agreement. "If you want to." said Lucy. Erza told Roxanne and Edwyn, "If you decide to join," she said, beginning to point to a short, old man on the bar, " go ask him, he is our Guild Master. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to allow you to join, but if he hesitates tell him that we suggested you join." The two mages nodded. Edwyn looked to Roxanne and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?" She nodded and stood up, leading him to an area off to the side, out of hearing distance of a certain nosy dragon slayer. "Should we?" he asked bluntly. "I think we should, the people here are friendly and we BOTH need a place to stay. I know that whatever money you're running on will become scarce soon. We can do jobs here and make money to have actual homes. We'd be able to actually buy food and clothes. I know that affects me really, I never had anything after escaping the dark guild, but I don't wanna join without you."

Edwyn thought this over, he wasn't sure still, but Roxanne wouldn't join without him. Who was he to deny her happiness and friends. Not caring what the future might yeild due to his choice, he nodded. "Alright then, let's do it" he said smiling. They walked back towards the table, but did not sit down. They walked past the table and towards the bar. Taking a deep breath before speaking, Roxanne opened her mouth to ask, when Edwyn did instead. He noticed her nervousness and decided to ask in her place. "Excuse me," Edwyn said getting the master's attention, "my friend and I would like to join your guild." The man thought for a second and smiled, replying simply, "Ok." "It's that easy?" Edwyn said, quite surprised. "It's only fair that I give you a chance," he replied, "besides I saw you talking with the others at that table. I'm Makarov, no need to introduce yourselves, I'm sure I'll come to know you two in due time." He then turned, "Mirajane," he called, "we have new members. Give them their marks." The beautiful white-haired mage nodded, and pulled out the stamp and asked Edwyn first, "Where do you want your mark?" He thought for a second and pointed to his neck, slightly above where the shoulder meets the neck, saying, "Right here." She quickly gave him a mark and turned to Roxanne saying cheerily, "Your turn." She thought for a second and rolled the sleeves of her jacket up a bit and pointed just below her wrist on her forearm. Mirajane quickly marked her too. "Welcome to the guild!" Mirajane exclaimed cheerily, " If you need help or advice ask anyone around here. I'm sure theyed gladly help."

Roxanne and Edwyn talked for a minute or two with Mirajane, before returning to the table with Lucy, Natsu, and Erza. They showed their marks proudly to the mages at the table before them. They congratulated the two and quickly got back to talking. Erza spent a bit telling them about jobs, how to choose them, and also S-Class missions. Soon after quite a few of the guild members came up to introduce themselves to the new mages. Once the people stopped coming by so often, Edwyn stood up about to take his leave. He exchanged goodbyes with everyone, but was stopped by Roxanne. "Meet me in the park later." she said quickly before he left.

Edwyn left the guild and began making his way through the streets towards the inn. He noticed people stopping every now and then and looking at the mark on his neck. Whispers passed between people discussing the new Fairy Tail mage. Every now and then he caught what they were saying, most were speculating about his strength and what magic he used. He found his way to the inn and upon entering, heard the woman behind the main desk say, "So, you said you weren't in town to try and join Fairy Tail, yet here you are, bearing their mark on your neck." "I didn't come here to join," he explained, somewhat of a harsh tone crept into his voice, "I don't know how I ended up joining anyways. It was pretty sudden." The harshness in his voice didn't bother her at all, "Fate has a strange way of making things happen." she commented, not entirely directed towards Edwyn. He nodded silently in agreement. He slipped into his room and laid down for a quick nap.

Edwyn woke up, the moon was just coming up. He stood up and got ready, then left the inn. He began walking towards the park, still noticing people milling about busily on the streets as if it were broad daylight. He got there and spotted Roxanne sitting in the same bench he waited for her in the same morning. "Hey." he said as he sat next to her. "So," he said noticing the new clothes she was wearing, "where'd you get those?" "Lucy, Levy and I went shopping." she explained, looking down at what she was wearing. It was a black and blue tanktop, new navy blue jeans, and around her waste she had tied her jean-jacket. "Who's Levy?" Edwyn asked. Roxanne, simply stated, "I'll introduce you two tomorrow. Anyways, I was going to ask if you'd be willing to help me on a job tomorrow, we'll split the money. I was needing the money so I could get an apartment of my own. Lucy said she'd let me stay until I had the money to pay rent for an apartment." Edwyn smiled, "Sure, sounds like fun." They talked a bit longer, before each agreed it was getting late. Edwyn stood up to go and before she left Roxanne gave him a quick hug before running off. Raising an eyebrow he turned to walk back to the inn when everything went black.

It had been two hours since the time Roxanne said she'd be at Lucy's apartment. She was a bit worried, but decided to wait a little longer. She sat on the couch hoping that any time there'd be a knock on the door. It was pretty silent until she heard a sliding and a muffled thump. She looked into her room, only to see Natsu standing up after jumping in through the open window. Natsu, quick to see the worry on her face, asked before she could say anything, "What's wrong Luce?" She was a bit surprised that he knew something was wrong, and told him, "Roxanne is almost three hours late. I dont know why I'm so worried, but something doesn't feel right." The dragon slayer thought for a moment, the gears in his head working, and suggested "Well, I know her scent well enough I think. I can help you look." Lucy nodded, "Okay, meet me outside, I'll be out in a second." She quickly got ready and met Natsu outside. Without a word, Natsu began walking on some invisble trail, eventually he made his way to the park. He stopped walking and turned to Lucy, "Her scent stops here." he said, somewhat confused. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Mhmm, I also smell Edwyn somewhere around here, but his scent suddenly vanishes too. It's late, we can begin a bigger search tomorrow with the rest of the guild." he said, a bit of worry in his voice. Lucy nodded and headed back to her apartment.


	7. Home Again

AN: **THIS CHAPTER CONTINUES WHERE 1&2 LEFT OFF SO IF YOU'RE CONFUSED GO BACK AND READ THEM. **That out of the way, I finally closed that off.

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Roxanne woke up once more, the sun hadn't moved since she last saw it. It took her a second before she remembered what she was doing before. She stood using the tree for support. Looking up at a large branch she had an idea, "Gem Dragon's Roar!" she yelled, releasing a powerful roar, taking the majority of the branch off the tree. She hobbled over to it and grabbed it. She began supporting herself on it, using it as a makeshift crutch. Roxanne took a bit to find the scent she was following before. Following the source of it she went as quickly as possible. She focused on finding Edwyn, ignoring the pain and exhaustion as best she could.

It took her quite a while, but she finally found him, Edwyn was laying against a tree breathing very shallowly. She noticed a wet spot under his shirt. Once she made her way to him she kneeled down. Lifting up his shirt he found an area covered in blood. It was leaking from a torn part of the skin on his side, and below it a large bruised area. The bleeding from the wound seemed as if it hadn't slowed since the wound was opened, she pulled off his shirt and jacket as carefully as possible. She began tearing strips of fabric from his jacket, whispering apologies as she did. She felt bad for ripping his clothes, but it was necessary. She took the strips and wrapped it around the wound as tightly as possible. Realizing it wasn't enough she began tearing the shirt also. She had wrapped the last bit of fabric around the wound and tied it off, when she leaned foward, her head resting on his chest. The pain was growing worse in her leg and the exhaustion she felt finally caught up with her. Feeling better knowing that he was somewhat safe she gave into the exhaustion and fell asleep.

The sun was high in the sky, about noon at a guess, Edwyn wasn't sure how long he had been awake, his mind was muddled from blood loss. He looked down finding the source of the pressure on his chest. Roxanne was asleep, leaning against him. Her clothes were torn and dirty, he noticed the branch laying nearby. There was no sign of injury anywhere he could see, besides the obvious break in her leg. From the deep sleep she was in, he decided to not wake her. Edwyn moved her for a second and stood up, steadying himself against the tree. Once he was steady enough he walked around a bit to stretch his legs, before returning to his sleeping friend. Looking peaceful in her sleep she showed no sign of worry or the pain she had gone through in this recent ordeal. He bent down and picked her up, trying not to disturb her sleep. He thought back to his travels all over Fiore, before going to Magnolia. He remembered this road from then. Once he remembered the way, he set off carrying Roxanne. He walked as briskly as possible while still being gentle enough not to wake her.

They had made it about a mile, before he began slowing down and had to stop. He laid Roxanne down and walked into the forest. He waited quietly for about fifteen minutes before he spotted a deer. "Shadow Make: Spear." he said quietly slamming his hand into his fist. A spear formed in the air and shot through the deer with deadly precision. He carried it back to where he laid down Roxanne and began taking the edible parts and cleaning them. He wandered back into the forest to grab materials for a fire. He once again brought it back to where he laid Roxanne down. He started the fire and began cooking the deer meat. He ate about half of it and saved the rest, incase Roxanne woke up, or if he got hungry again. He looked down at his sleeping friend. He hadn't noticed how beauti- no, now wasn't the time for thinking about this or gawking over her. He got his mind straight, they were in a survival situation and he couldn't spend time doing anything but focusing on getting them out.

He picked her up once more, coughing again reawakening the pain within his side, it burned but he dared not hesitate now. He set off, determined to get back to Magnolia. Once again, by the time he stopped for a bit the sun had moved again in the sky. Bothered by the loss of time he began quickening his pace. Along the road he heard voices in the distance, remembering his earlier experience with the bandits. He hid in the bushes staying as quiet as possible "Over here! I think I smell 'em!" Yelled a voice in the distance. Smelling us? Did the bandits have a dragon slayer among them? No, if they did he wouldn't have been able to fight back at all earlier. The voice was familiar also. He emerged from the bushes, Roxanne still in tow, and yelled, "Natsu! Is that you?" It took a second but there was a reply, "Yea! Hold on, we'll be there soon!" Not wanting to waste any time, he walked in the direction of the voices. The sooner he and Roxanne got back to the guild the better. He eventually saw the group, he recognized Natsu, Lucy, Happy, who had just landed from an aerial search, and Erza. Among them was a short blunette, a tall man with long hair and piercings everywhere, and a shirtless mage with dark hair. He got closer to the group, and began to slow down, the loss of blood finally catching up. Black spots began to enter his vision as his breathing slowed down, his breath becoming shallower and shallower they completely blotted his vision out. Everything went black and silence encompassed him.

Natsu and the shirtless mage ran to catch Roxanne and Edwyn, as he fell unconscious. Natsu barely caught Roxanne in time, yelling, "Gray catch him!" Gray had caught Edwyn right before he hit the ground. "Jesus, what the hell happened to these two?" he asked. The others caught up. Natsu passed Roxanne to Erza kneeling down by Edwyn as Gray gently lowered him. They saw the makeshift bandages made from strips of clothes were completely soaked in blood. Realizing that he had to be taken to Wendy immediately he told the mage with long, dark hair, Gajeel, to take Edwyn. Them both being dragon slayers they were the fastest of the group and could maintain their speed the longest. Natsu took Roxanne once more from Erza and quickly explained that Gajeel and him were gonna run ahead to the guild. Everyone else followed the dragon slayers as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, From another part of the woods a man stood frustrated as he watched his plan go wrong. "I should've taken them when I had the chance," he said to himself, "No matter, there will be plenty more chances."

A little blue-haired girl sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "That's about all I can do." she said, wishing she could do more. "You did good Wendy." Mirajane said, reassuring the little dragon slayer. "It's time for Porlyusica to take over now." Wendy took one last glance at the sleeping mage before her, then walked out of the infirmary. Shortly after Wendy left, an old pink-haired woman walked in. She turned to Mirajane and bluntly said, "Leave." Mirajane left without arguing, leaving Porlyusica to her work.

She emerged later, saying to those waiting outside, "They should be fine, just make sure they get lots of rest and don't leave their beds. That Edwyn boy is lucky to be alive, his rib had punctured his lung, and should it have come out the hole in his lungs would've killed him also the loss of blood would've killed him too, had you not gotten him to the guild so quickly." Not letting the mages say anything, she turned and left. "Charming as ever." Gray commented. Meanwhile, inside the infirmary Roxanne had woken up. She, with her dragon slayer ears had heard what she said about Edwyn. She realized that when she fell asleep on him, he was dying, she left him like that unknowingly. Not only that, but he had carried her for miles trying to get her to safety. She owed him greatly, doubting she'd ever be able to repay that debt.

Roxanne woke up later, and looked at the clock on the table by her bed. It was 3 AM, she had a restless sleep. She was worrying about Edwyn and that kept her up. Roxanne's worrying finally got to her and she stood up from her bed, despite what Porlyusica said. She made her way quietly over to Edwyn's bed. She stood over him and looked down. His skin was pale and clammy, not recovered from the blood loss. His face was solemn and serene, escaping pain in a world of dreams. She grabbed his hand, not as warm as usual, and whispered thanks for what he had done, and apologies for what she had done to him unintentionally, he would've said it wasn't her fault and told her not to blame herself if he was awake to do so. For now though, she couldn't help but blame herself. He was dying and she was weak and couldn't stay awake. She wasn't able to get him to safety. "You're supposed to be in bed." said a voice behind her, making her jump with surprise. It was Mirajane, she looked exhausted, but still had her same cheerful smile. "I would get onto you, but who am I to come inbetween you and your love." Mirajane added. Roxanne blushed a bright red and dropped his hand. "I'm not in love!" she yelled at Mirajane. "Whatever you say," the white-haired mage said with a sly smile, "now get back to bed." Roxanne turned and thanked Mirajane for taking care of them during the night, before returning to her bed. Roxanne went back to sleep, still somewhat restless, but she felt better getting it off her chest.

There was shuffling about, and tinkering of metallic instruments. Those noises pertruded the silent shroud around the infirmary. Ignoring them at first, Roxanne covered her head with her pillow, eventually giving up she looked over to see Porlyusica bustling about mixing things, and stopping at times to stand over Edwyn and do things. "How is he?" she asked from her bed. "He's fine, and you'd do well to either go back to sleep or be quiet. I dislike when people bother me." Roxanne laid her head back down, her worries at ease. Edwyn was in good hands. She was quite annoyed, though, that she had to keep sleeping, if it were up to her she'd be up by now and doing something. She was becoming quite restless, all she had was a broken leg, right? She questioned it herself, not knowing what else could have afflicted her without her knowledge. She eventually fell into her own land of dreams.

Time had passed, and with time she was finally allowed to leave the infirmary. Edwyn however, still had not recovered much. His condition kept slipping from bad to worse and back again. Wendy and Porlyusica spent long hours trying to keep him alive and turn his condition around. Roxanne would always be assured that he was fine, whether false optimism or an actual promise, she couldn't tell. Mostly they kept her busy and out of the infirmary. She hadn't visited Edwyn in about a week. She had been going on jobs with either Levy, and team Shadow Gear, or Natsu, Lucy, and whoever else joined them. She had finally been able to get an apartment and have some money of her own, yet she couldn't enjoy this or help but worry about Edwyn. Some nights she spent outside the infirmary, not allowed inside. Some people would come and go, but never would they let her inside. It frustrated her to no end, and to make it worse they wouldn't explain. Waiting outside as usual she mostly just leaned foward and stared at the ground. "Roxanne," Wendy said, popping her little head outside the door, "come on in." Roxanne stood up and stood at the door hesitating, she didn't know what condition he was in or if she wanted to see him an awful condition.

She took a breath and walked inside Porlyusica was gone, most likely resting somewhere, and Wendy stood by Edwyn. Roxanne looked down to see him awake, smiling as he saw her come in. He looked quite a bit better then when she had last seen him, he regained color and his face no longer flushed from the heat of a fever. "What's with the look?" he asked. She realized that she had a face showing worry and relief at the same time. "Nothing, it's just good to see you." she thought for a moment, "Do you know why they kept me out?" "I told them to, it wasn't good of you to be worrying all the time by my bedside, I also told everyone to keep you as busy as possible, hence all the missions you went on." he replied. "If you weren't hospitalized I'd beat the crap out of you. Keeping me away only made me worry worse." she said with an over-exaggerated pout. "Nice to know you care." Edwyn said with a laugh, letting out a small cough. Roxanne began to laugh along then said, turning serious, "When are you getting out?" "Hopefully soon, and when I do you better be ready to go on a mission with me." replied Edwyn grinning. Porlyusica had walked into the room, about to tell Roxanne to leave, no doubt. "Of course, also I think you owe me a dinner because of all the stress and worrying you put me through." "Alright, first thing when I get out." he promised, "Now I think it's time for you to leave, Porlyusica doesn't like working with others around, besides Wendy that it." Roxanne nodded and left soon after. That night she was able to sleep soundly and without worries.

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AN: Once again, more notes at the bottom. Anyways, fun fact. This chapter turned out completely different then what I had intended to write, but no matter. I'll have plenty more chances to do what I planned.


	8. Recovered

AN: Quite a short chapter and I don't have much to say, besides the fact I'm going to revisit the jobs that Roxanne went on at a later date.

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Edwyn stood up, stretching his legs. He was just deemed fully healed and was able to leave. The only indicator that he was injured was a large scar along his side. He thanked Porlyusica, who was just about to leave, only to get a snarky reply and a scowl, unphased he also thanked Wendy. As he was about to leave, he realized he didn't have a shirt, what's left of it was in the forest. He decided on buying a new shirt, but first he had to get to the inn he hadn't been to in forever and pick up his stuff he left. Edwyn left the guild, and used the trip to the inn as an excuse to stretch his legs. Once he found a relatively empty street that led to the inn and began sprinting. It had been a very long time since he had been able to run full speed for a long amount of time. Stretching his legs and finally being able to move felt amazing after his time in the infirmary. He was moving too fast to hear the comments of those on the streets shocked to see a shirtless man running down the street. He slowed down near the inn and walked inside.

About to apologize to the woman at the front desk she stopped him, "Don't worry, your guild members told me about what happened with you, I've got your stuff right here." She put his stuff on the desk and he thanked her, turning to walk out. It took him a second, but he realized that this was the only inn in Magnolia. It explained how they found it so easily. He left the inn and set off to his next destination, the clothes store. He entered, his shirtlessness garnering a few looks from the staff. He disappeared to the section with men's clothing. He felt a bit odd, never really shopping for clothes before. He picked out a plain black shirt and a black jacket, to replace his old clothes. He also grabbed another pair of pants to match his own, and a long-sleeve black shirt. He paid for the clothes and walked outside, putting on the long-sleeve shirt as he did.

Shouldering his pack after placing the other clothes inside, he headed off towards the guild to meet Roxanne. He was walking by the apartment buildings when he heard a voice yelling from a window above, "Where ya heading?" He looked up to see Roxanne leaning out of her window. "I was on my way back to the guild." he yelled up. She hopped down into the street from the second floor. Edwyn flinched as she hit, but she stood up and dusted off her pants. "I know you're a dragon slayer so you can do stuff like that, but please don't, it really isn't comfortable watching someone jump from a window." he pleaded. She just laughed and began walking alongside him. "I see you bought some new clothes," she said inspecting the shirt, "Why do you always wear such dark colors?" Edwyn just shrugged. "Ugh, another thing we have to do sometime, take you clothes shopping." she sighed.

They made their way to the guild and Edwyn found a place to temporarily put his things, he would sleep at the guild tonight, due to him and Roxanne leaving for a mission in the morning. They talked with others for a while, before leaving for dinner. "So, since you decided we're having dinner tonight, now that I'm not hospitalized, do you have a place in mind?" He asked, his wallet already crying due to the expensive possibilities. She thought for a moment, "What about that restaurant 8 Island." He was relieved she didn't choose a place too expensive, "Ok." They made it to the restaurant and sat down. They ordered their food, and with it being a surprisingly slow night, it came soon after. "Tell me about some of the missions you went on" Edwyn said, digging into his food. Roxanne began telling stories of exciting fights, interesting people she met, and some of the beautiful locations she saw. She stopped now and then to answer questions Edwyn had, but mostly she went uninterrupted. She finished the last of one of her stories. "Wow," he said, "I wish I could've gone on those with you." "It would've been a lot more fun if you did." she said, taking another bite of her food, "Well, hopefully the mission we go on tomorrow will be even more memorable." "I'm sure it will be." Edwyn said with a sly smirk. "I'm not sure if I should be worried or not, knowing you I probably should be." Roxanne said, not looking up from her food.

Once the two finished their food Edwyn paid and they set off again to go back to the guild. They walked in the door, and made their way to the job board. "Which one should we take?" Edwyn asked, looking at Roxanne. "This one." she said, pointing at a paper posted on the board. It seemed relatively simple, 150,000 Jewel for just guarding a mansion for a few nights. "Alright." They grabbed it and brought it to Mirajane, telling her they'd leave tomorrow. Edwyn walked over to the place he laid his pack and put the paper inside. Roxanne had sat down at a table and was talking with Levy, he noticed that as Levy said something Roxanne blushed a bit. He came up and sat with them, "So what are we talking about?" "Nothing!" they said in unison. Not feeling up to questioning them he just nodded and leaned back in his chair.

Roxanne and Levy were chatting, and Edwyn was leaning back resting his eyes, when others had come up and sat at the table. It was Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Gajeel. Edwyn sat up when they all began talking and joined in. They talked for a while and after a bit, out of curiosity, Gray asked, "So what happened before we found you guys in the woods. I meant to ask forever ago, but wanted to wait on Edwyn because I wanted to hear his part too." Edwyn started off talking about how everything went black after talking with Roxanne in the park, then talked about waking up and walking for a while, then talked about his fight with the bandits. He finished off and let Roxanne tell what had happened to her. A good amount of time had passed by the time they finished retelling their experiences.

Eventually, after discussing the events a bit more, mostly everyone had left, leaving Roxanne and Edwyn alone sitting at the table. They talked a while longer, the conversation dying down around them as time passed and even more people left to go home for the night. It was not long before the only ones left were the two at the table, and Mirajane cleaning with her sister Lisanna helping. Roxanne yawned and stood up to leave, "See ya in the morning." "See ya." he said as she turned to leave. Edwyn stood up and went over to his pack and laid down, using it as a pillow. He fell asleep shortly after.


	9. Sleep

AN: Once more a short one. Once more nothing much to say about it. Seems to be an occurring pattern recently.

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Edwyn sat up, groggy, rubbing his eyes he looked around. It was early in the morning, nobody was in the guild. He stood up and stretched. He grabbed his pack, yawning, and walked over to a table, dropping his pack beside it. Rays of sunlight were barely shining through as the large orange orb rose into vision. The guild seemed so different before it filled with conversing mages. He pulled a chair out, the scraping noise of it on the wood echoing through the empty guild, and sat down. It wasn't long before the first mages came through the door, sitting down in their usual spots. Soon voices filled the room, the silent chamber before seemed like an entirely different building. Once more the heavy wooden doors opened, this time an excited raven-haired dragon slayer walked in. She quickly spotted him and walked over. Smiling brightly she asked, "You ready?" Edwyn nodded rather slowly, still not fully awake. He stood up and shouldered his pack, ready to set off. Roxanne had already begun walking towards the door, "Wait for me." he said. She just grinned saying, "Not my fault you're so slow." As they were about to leave people waved goodbye and wished them luck.

Once they reached the train Roxanne frowned, "Do we have to ride the train?" "I'd rather not walk for miles right after waking up." he said, matter-of-factly. She let out a bit off a whimper as she stepped onboard quickly making her way to a seat before the motion sickness kicked in. Edwyn sat next to the sick dragon slayer, somewhat amused, "We haven't even started moving yet." She didn't say anything, still sick, and just leaned against him. He sighed, still thinking she's over-exaggerating, and gave in letting her lay against him. "Try not to vomit on me, it's a long ride and I'd rather not be covered in puke, unable to get up, for hours." She just nodded, her head rubbing against him as she leaned. The train began moving after the last call at the station. Edwyn watched the landscape whiz by in a blur as the train began moving. Roxanne had soon fallen asleep as Edwyn enjoyed the view of the picturesque landscape going by, soon to follow suite and sleep the rest of the ride away.

The train lurched into the station, waking Edwyn and Roxanne. It was their stop. Edwyn grabbed their bags and ushered the sick dragon slayer outside. The second she stepped outside she began bursting with energy. They left the station, and stepped out into the city. They looked around, it was much more dense than Magnolia, the buildings had little, if any, space between them and they rose high above the streets, seemingly into the sky. "You hungry?" Edwyn asked Roxanne, "We can find somewhere to eat if you are." She shook her head, the sooner we get to the mansion the better. I'm still tired." Edwyn nodded and set off towards the large, overly extravagant home in the distance.

The two mages made it to the mansion, it had taken longer than they thought it would. By the time they got there the sun had fallen below the snowy peaks on the outskirts of the city, painting them a deep purple. Edwyn grabbed the massive knocker on the door and banged it, causing a large thump to echo into the distance. As he waited for an answer he studied the doors, they seemed to be two large seamless pieces of wood, it had no visible knots or splits, Edwyn couldn't think of any way to do that with wood, the doors were intricately decorated with gold and silver laced in abstract looping patterns. He looked at the patterns and realized it loosely resembled a lion's head. He was still studying the door when it swung open, a butler standing inside. "Yes?" he asked. Edwyn quickly pulled the request out of his pack, "We're from Fairy Tail, we-" The butler held up his hand, stopping Edwyn. He eyed the two mages and waved them inside, "Follow me." They walked inside, looking at the hallways, the whole house was lavishly decorated.

They turned the corner, heading inside a large office. The walls were lined with bookcases, completely filled with large books, they seemed well cared for, there was no dust anywhere on the cases or books. Behind the large mahogany desk was a tall, fat man. "Ah, are these the mages?" he blubbered out in an indescernable accent. He stared them down, his face showing no emotion, "You two seem capable," he said, satisfied, "I have guards during the day, so you two will be working at night. We only have one room available for you two, and you start tomorrow. Any questions?" He wasted no time, and what was he using all the other rooms in this home for? Edwyn decided not to question it. He and Roxanne shook their heads. "Good, good. Jameson, show them to their room." "Very good, sir." the butler said, bowing, and leading the two to their room.

"This is a nice room." Roxanne said, looking around. It was quite spacious. There was a small table off to the side with two large chairs, and a King Size bed in the middle. "So," Edwyn said looking around also, "I'm assuming you'll be taking the bed." She shook her head, "I'd prefer the chair, you can take the bed." Edwyn raised a questioning eyebrow, but pursued it no further. They talked for a bit, mostly about how they'd kill time before their shift the next night. "I'm gonna go to bed now," he said, pulling his shirt off and throwing it onto his pack, "that train ride was surprisingly exhausting for sleeping the whole way." He slipped under the covers, falling asleep quickly on the expensive, soft bed. He woke up later, the room dimly light by the moonlight shining in. He heard a quite whimpering to his left. He sat up to see Roxanne, her legs pulled up to her chest, quivering in the dark of the room. "Roxanne?" Edwyn said, getting up and putting a hand on her back, "What's wrong?" She recoiled a bit at his touch and said, her icy blue eyes staring directly into his, glistening with unshed tears, "I just had a bad nightmare. Th-the dark guild that took me long ago had found me, they woke me up and taped my mouth shut so I couldn't scream or do anything while they killed you in your sleep." Her shaking grew worse as she began crying a bit, she broke down and latched onto Edwyn, crying into his shoulder, "It seemed so real, I though I lost you." Edwyn didn't know what to do, he just held her and whispered comforting words, reassuring her that it was just a dream and not going to happen.

He waited until she stopped shaking, falling asleep in his arms, and he laid her back down into the chair. He walked back to his bed and he laid back down. Unsure of the passage of time, he stared at the ceiling unsure of when he woke up, if he ever fell asleep. He finally noticed a weight on his chest, he looked down to see Roxanne laying against him, her arm draped over his stomach. Edwyn didn't know what to do, he didn't want to move her or get up, and risk waking her. He had a conflict, part of him didn't think it was right to have her sleeping with him, but the larger majority wanted to stay there, especially when he felt her still quivering from her earlier nightmare. She looked vulnerable and he felt a strange urge to protect her. He thought back to when he heard someone say that dragon slayers, by nature tend to subconsciously end up with the person they trust and care for the most. Edwyn sighed, giving into the larger part of his mind and put his arm around her, sleeping the best he had in years.


	10. Silence

Roxanne woke up, she had slept amazing after calming down from her nightmare. The chair felt better than she remembered the night before, her pillow solid yet comfortable, for some reason it seemed to rise and fall in a slow comforting rythm. She looked up to see she was in bed with Edwyn nuzzling against him. She fell out flailing, wondering how she got there. Edwyn turned slowly, waking up and looked down at her. "What are you doing down there?" he asked the shocked slayer, staring at her beet-red face. She snapped out of it, "N-nothing." "Alright." Edwyn said, rolling over to get up. As he put on his shirt and jacket he noticed Roxanne still absent-mindedly staring at him. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." he said grinning. She snapped out of her daze once more, frowning and sticking her tounge out at him as she got up.

She pushed him into the hall for a bit while she changed, opening the door to let him in after awhile. "Took you long enough." She didn't comment on that, but just spun around asking, "What do you think." He mentally sighed, knowing it wouldn't come across good if he let one out. She was wearing tight dark blue jeans, a simple, long-sleeved white and blue striped v-neck with a plain white shirt underneath. He'd be lying if he said that he wouldn't think she looked good in anything. "You look nice." he said simply, hoping he chose the right words. She beamed at his words, "Thank you!" Edwyn was so relieved, women are dangerous and mysterious creatures and he just narrowly avoided facing the wrath of one. "Alright, while we have time, I'm going to take you clothes shopping like I said I would." she said. He opened his mouth to protest, but was stopped with a finger to his mouth. "No arguements, you need some more clothes. As much as you like black, I'm sure you'd look better in more colorful clothes." He sighed and was quickly pulled along by his wrist, against his will.

"Nope, not that one." Roxanne said putting a shirt back on a rack. "Don't you have enough to choose from?" He asked, exasperatedly as he looked down at the massive pile of clothes on her arm. "Ugh, fine, I guess we can stop for a bit." She sighed and led him to the dressing room, giving him different outfits to wear. She rejected most of them after seeing him in them. "Am I done yet? he asked, turning for her as directed so she could see the outfit. "Almost." she said smiling, she tapped her chin staring at him, "It's so hard to find things that look good on you. "Gee, thanks alot." he said. "You know I didn't mean it like that," she said poking him in the chest while handing him another outfit, "Try this one." He changed quickly coming out in a white dress shirt with a tie, and black pants. "Hmmm, too formal for everyday, but it's something that finally works." He changed again into the next outfit and Roxanne added the simple dress shirt and pants to the miniscule amount of outfits she decided worked.

Finally they left, it was already lunch time so they stopped and had a quick meal. "Well, now you have some nicer clothes to wear." Roxanne said. Edwyn picked at his food, "It only took forever." he grumbled. "Oh lighten up," she said, "it's wasn't that bad." Edwyn just continued eating. Once they finished, Edwyn paid for lunch and they continued walking around the city. Every now and then, Roxanne's eye was caught by something in the windows and Edwyn paid for it, partially out of his own will, "Repaying her for the clothes." she always said with a sly grin. He didn't argue with her, knowing he did owe her and mostly didn't have the energy it would require. He enjoyed being around her and everything, but sometimes it took a lot out of him. "I think we should go back to the mansion, it'd be a good idea to sleep before we have to stay up all night." he suggested, mostly just to get a break. Roxanne nodded in agreement, and they begun walking back.

Finally back they went to the room. Edwyn dropped his bags and collapsed onto the bed, Roxanne dropping into the chair. Edwyn was soon asleep, as was Roxanne. They woke up hours later from a knock on the door. Roxanne woke up first, finding herself laying next to Edwyn, still asleep. She cursed herself under her breath and opened the door, saying they'd be right out. she walked over and started shaking Edwyn, "Wake up! It's time to go ya lazy bum!" He just rolled out of bed and stood up, quite annoyed by his awakening. He grabbed her wrists. "I-I'm up." he said, half asleep, he let go of her wrists and stumbled off to the door. She just looked at him and followed close behind. The man at the door ran them through the basics of their shift. Showing the basic routes and routines. Once he was satisfied that they understood he left them to their job.

"So, I guess I'll see you later." Roxanne said, rubbing her arm. "Mmhmm." Edwyn mumbled in reply. They stood in silence for a bit Roxan broke it by saying, "I know that nothing will happen most likely, but try and be safe anyways." before pecking Edwyn on the cheek quickly and running off. Edwyn stood there a while longer, proccessing what happened, before walking off on his route.

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_! Why'd you do that? Roxanne walked through the silent hallway berating herself. She couldn't have stopped herself, it seemed right at the time. She regretted it soon after. All of her actions seemed stupid, but she couldn't help them. First it started with her sleepwalking over to his bed and laying down with him, and now she went and freaking _kissed _him! What if he didn't feel the same way? This is the question that crossed her mind the most. She took a minute to stop and clear her mind. She needed to be focusing on the task at hand.

It was the silence that got to him the most. Walking through the large, empty halls wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so damn silent. The halls had a haunting glow in the pale moonlight. It was a full moon tonight so there wasn't much darkness, not that it would bother him, he is a shadow-make mage after all. He found it quite hard to focus, her sleepwalking into his bed told him quite a lot already, but just that small peck sent him over. When he remembered the sensation of her warm, soft lips brushing lightly against his cheek he felt immensely giddy, for lack of a better term. He hadn't felt this way in years, he stopped for a moment, when was the last time he felt that way, he tried to remember, but his memory, still locked, pushed him back out. It frustrated him to no end, so he just began focusing on his patrol.

It was cold, oh so cold. She hadn't noticed it before, the hear she felt from embarrasment kept her mind occupied. It had been about an hour since she began roaming the silent, cold halls. She was thankful for the full moon shining its rays in through the window, if it was dark she might not be able to do this any longer. She hoped the halls would stay relatively lit for the next few nights that they had to work. A peculiar vase had spotted her eye and she stopped to look at it. Her footsteps stopped, the only sound she heard was her breathing. Looking at the vase she noticed an engraved pattern, she felt it, trying to discern what felt so strange about it when she heard a voice from behind, "You'd do well to not touch your employer's items, madame." She jumped, the butler had snuck up behind her, a seemingly impossible task due to her dragon slayer hearing. "S-sorry." she mumbled out, trying to calm herself from the shock of him seemingly materializing out of nowhere. "Just be sure it doesn't happen again, madame." he said, walking off silently. The silence disturbed her, his steps made no noise as if he was walking on air.

A few hours in, Edwyn while walking, tried to decide what to do when he and Roxanne met up again in a few more hours. Surely she felt stupid, it was an odd thing to assume, but by the way she ran off so quickly he could only assume that. Never had he actually been in love, let alone admit it, or confess it, whatever people call it. The giddiness he felt earlier turned into nausea and nearvousness. Now he knew what people meant when they said they have butterflies in their stomach. He just wanted to get it over with, and with that get this shift over with. Over the hours he was alone the silence seemed to grow louder, his heart beat louder than even his footsteps to him, a pounding so unbearable he had to begin humming and making noise so that it would stop, but he didn't want to be loud for fear of waking anyone who is sleeping. The small amount of noise kept him sane through the night, which quickly came to an end, nothing really happening.

Edwyn made his way to the room, his boredom causing extreme exhaustion. He opened the door, seeing Roxanne already inside sitting in a chair staring at her feet. She looked up when he walked in, standing up about to say something. Everything seemed to move extremely slow as he thought about his next move, unsure of what to do he just pulled her closer and returned the kiss she gave hours earlier. All the tension left her as that one simple gesture assured her of his love. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach warming her, she melted into his embrace as their lips brushed gently, and they stood there for a minute, enjoying the moment. Edwyn reluctantly unwrapped his arms from around her and went to lay down, he pulled off his shirt and slid under the covers. Roxanne hesitated for a second, but followed him, sliding under the covers and snuggling against him. His warmth comforting her, and vice versa. No words were exchanged, their feelings obvious, there was no need. They slept. Their slumber was abruptly ended by the sound of an explosion tearing through the air.


	11. Panic

A panic erupted in the city, one loud and chaotic enough to be heard from the mansion, quite a distance away. Edwyn didn't take time to put his shirt on, he just burst from the bed and ran down the halls as quickly as possible. Guards had lined up in a thick formation infront of the bedroom of the owner of the mansion. Roxanne quickly caught up to Edwyn a few seconds later, subconsciously reaching for his hand as her anxiety built up. _Now's not the time for a damn panic attack, Roxanne!_ She berated herself with that thought, calming down with the help of Edwyn reassuringly squeezing her hand. She and walked with him to the gaurds, asking what happened. "There was an explosion in town, I know your job is to protect our boss, but we have that covered. Go check out the town, quickly!" the commander of the guards said to them.

The mages stepped outside to see a pillar of smoke rising from the smoldering ashes that was once half of a building, people panicked in the streets, trying to subdue the fires spreading at a rapid rate. Memories rushed back of her watching her house crumble and burn. She tried to clench her fist, forgetting she was holding onto Edwyn's hand, and gripped his hand tightly. Edwyn had memories of his own come back to him, memories of a long struggle against the two mages that had taken Roxanne, the fight was clear, besides the two that offered help from behind as he fought them head-on. He replied to her squeeze on his hand with a squeeze of her own, he said nothing, staring over the awful sight before them in silence. "What should we do?" Roxanne asked finally breaking the silence, her anxiety coming back. "Go help with the effort to stop the fire, I'll go search for whoever caused this." Edwyn said, determined. He turned to run off in search, releasing his grip from Roxanne's hand, she held on to his hand, not letting him go. He turned back to her, looking up at him, her eyes staring directly into his, she thought carefully before she spoke, "As much as I don't want you to go alone, I know I'm needed down in the town," she inhaled deeply as she continued, "Whoever did this, assuming it wasn't an accident, will be dangerous. . . Just be careful." Edwyn gave her a hug, "I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She nodded against his chest. "I'm gonna go search now, you go help out." He said, letting go of her and running off to search. It took all her willpower to not run after him.

By the time she made it down towards the fires quite a bit had been subdued, at the cost of a few buildings. She found any ways the she could to help, from helping the few who were injured, to helping subdue the last of the fires. The panic had not ended just because the fires were out. People were bustling about, families with their children and belongings leaving. The panic, after a brief respite, came back in full force. Roxanne, feeling a need to do something, climbed to a high point and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Everyone! Calm down," she said, pulling back her sleeve to show the mark on her forearm, "I'm a Fairy Tail mage and there is another mage here from Fairy Tail also, he is currently searching for whoever did this. Just stay calm." The crowds stopped, mostly everyone calming down, others began yelling, "Why did you let it happen in the first place if you guys were here?" The unrest reaching a larger point than the panic did. Her anxiety coming back, her vision began blurring a bit as her heart rate skyrocketed and breathing becoming harder. She quite often had a problem with panic attacks.

Edwyn was near the town on his search when he hear Roxanne yelling, attempting to calm the crowd. It worked briefly, but he heard more unrest and people yelling at her, angry with her for not stopping it in the first place. He stopped searching and began running in the direction of the unruly crowd. He climbed up to the are Roxanne was at from behind and yelled at the crowd below, "Quiet! Everyone quiet, we are here for a mission, we weren't here to protect the city from anything, we didn't even expect it otherwise we' have done everything in our power to stop it!" The crowd silenced at the authority in his voice, "Now, if anybody has any information on who did this I need to know." "He's gone," said one man, "he blew up the building killing most inside, and just poof, he was gone." Mumbles of agreement from the other witnesses spread across the streets. Meanwhile, at his side, Roxanne was recovering from her panic attack, letting Edwyn handle it. He always was much better with people than her, she hadn't had much practice, between living out mostly isolated and spending years in a dark guild.

Hours later they returned to the house after gathering information, Roxanne heading off to the bedroom while Edwyn talked with the guards. "We're going back to sleep, I doubt that whoever caused the explosion is gone. If you need us, wake us. This person is dangerous, whoever it is, try to avoid a fight." He explained. The commander replied, "Will do, we also sent a message to your guild, requesting further help. This shouldn't cut into your pay for the mission though." Edwyn nodded and walked off towards the bedroom. He opened the door, spotting Roxanne already in the bed. "You came just in time," she said, "I apparently caused a larger upset rather than calm them. All the people yelling at me started a panic attack." Edwyn pulled the covers back, laying down, "It wasn't your fault, they were riled up and it doesn't take much to send them over." Roxanne scooted over leaning on Edwyn, listening to his chest vibrate as he talked, replying every now and then, but mostly looked at the scar on his side. She put her hand there, rubbing her thumb over the scar. "It's pretty bad isn't it?" he asked, snapping her out of her trance. "No, no, not at all." she said, looking up at him, "I was just looking at it." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back for a moment, then he looked down and gave Roxanne a kiss on the head, "We should get some sleep." Roxanne mumbled an ok and closed her eyes, falling asleep quickly. Edwyn had a harder time sleeping, his thoughts raced, who caused the explosion, was it someone from the guild who had taken Roxanne, did they find out she was here and come for her? Too many questions, he decided he should sleep, rather than dwell on these questions.

Thunder erupted through the night waking the two mages. The sudden shock caused Roxanne to grip Edwyn tightly, his arm wrapped around her. More thunder rumbled, shortly after a flash of lightning shown from outside the window. "Oh thank god." Roxanne sighed, her grip loosening. Edwyn looked over at the clock on their bedstand. 6 P.M. They still had time to sleep. Edwyn laid back down, pulling the covers back over them. They sat there, silently listening to the storm, the patter of the rain causing calm to wash over them. Roxanne nuzzled her head into Edwyn's chest and broke the silence, "I love you." she said simply. Those words fell heavily, she didn't mean to say anything it just slipped out. Once again, she felt the embarrasment from the other night returning. "I love you too." he replied, knowing she felt embarrased once more, her blurting things out and acting without thinking is the only way he'd be able to have the thought, even courage, to say these things or act upon his feelings. Abrupt as it was that they had just confessed their love, it had been a long time coming. Roxanne had been feeling oddly about him since their reunion, only during his time in the infirmary did she realize how much she cared for him. Unsure of how he had felt, she had taken a large leap into an abyss, the chance paid off however and she was damn greatful.

There was a knock on the door, and the storm was still raging outside. Another knock resounded, waking Edwyn. He stood up and put on a shirt, opening the door. It wasn't the guards coming to wake them up, instead it was Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray. Edwyn was about to tell them they'd be right out, but Erza walked inside before he could say anything and sat down, the others following suite. Roxanne woke up and felt the empty spot next to her, her eyes closed and not knowing others were around, "Edwyn?" She opened her eyes and looked at the group sitting at the end of the room. Flushing red, she crept under the covers. "Come on out Roxanne." Edwyn said. She slowly crept out and walked over to the group. Hiding a bit shyly behind Edwyn. "It was a matter of time." Gray said bluntly. Knowing what he meant, Roxanne said anyways, "Huh?" "Don't act like that, if it wasn't obvious before, you calling his name in bed while feeling the spot next to you kinda gave it away." he pointed out. "Gray enough," Erza said sternly, "that isn't why we're here." "Speaking of that," Edwyn said, somewhat perplexed, "I thought you guys wouldn't be here until tomorrow." She looked up at him, "You should let a person finish before talking. He rubbed his head apologizing.

"Anyways," she said bringing out a newspaper, "there have been a series of attacks on council members, around one-hundred died in the first attack, including nine members. This happened recently, around the time you left on the train. Ever since they've been targeting former council members also. The guild doing this is Tartoros, a very powerful dark guild." Roxanne was visibly relieved that it wasn't the dark guild that took her, yet she was upset about the attacks."This home, if you didn't know, is the home of a former council member, he foresaw this and that is why he put the request out." "Will you be staying here and helping us guard him?" Edwyn asked. "No, we are only staying for a little while. We stopped here on our way to the council member we're going to guard." "That doesn't mean we won't help while we're here, though." Natsu said, his usual grin spread across his face.

Erza split Edwyn, Gray, and Natsu into a group, taking Lucy and Roxanne in a group with her. The nightly rounds were made much better with company, even the sound of the storm alone would've made it better. "So, look's like I owe Mira some money." Gray said, walking along with the group, his hands behind his head. "You bet her that me and Roxanne would get together?" Edwyn asked, somewhat amused. "Kinda, she bet me that you two would get together before Natsu and Lucy." Natsu ignored the statement completely, focusing on something else. "Do you guys hear that?" he said. "Obviously not, we aren't dragon slayers, ash-for-brains." Gray said, still relaxedly walking. "The hell did you say ice princess?" the two, about to quarrel, were interrupted with more explosions, a mage bursting through the wall. "Miss me?" a voice cackled crazily.


	12. Hellfire

"Seems like I owe Mira mon-" Erza said, interrupted by a wall crumpling in, a large bald man walking through the hole. Roxanne stumbled backwards at the sight of him, "Y-y-you." "I am here for the council member, step aside and no harm will come to you." he boomed. Erza didn't bother replying, she instead re-quipped into her Flight Armor, jumping behind him in a blur. She wasn't quick enough, large he may be, but slow, far from it. He hit her hard sending her flying down the hall. Erza recovered in the air, sliding quickly to a stop and went speeding back at the mage. Roxanne noticed, as he stood there, taking the barrage of attacks, that his mark was different. He was a part of Tartarus now. Erza stopped the flurry of attacks and jumped back. Her attacks had seemingly no effect. She requipped into her Giant Armor to match his inhuman strength. Once more, Erza charged throwing a heavy-handed punch towards him. Freichen blocked, absorbing all the shock into his thick, bulging arms. His face showed no emotion whatsoever, even as he began slipping backwards. Eventually, the force produced between them sent them both sliding backwards. Meanwhile, Lucy summoned Taurus. "Taurus, take him down!" "Anything for you Lucy! Mooo!" Taurus charged alongside Erza and they attacked together, the force of their combined attack knocked the large mage down. Regaining her courage Roxanne stood up, ready to fight back.

"You." Edwyn said coldly, staring down Asalt. He cackled wildly, "That's not any way to treat an old friend, Eddy!" Edwyn started to walk towards him, only to be held back by Gray and Natsu. "What the hell are you doing?" Natsu asked, struggling to hold him. "Taking care of unfinished business." Edwyn replied. Gray, also having a hard time, said, "You dumbass, he's too strong, don't you see the Tartarus mark on him?" "Listen to your buddies Eddy, you don't want to end up like your brother, now do you?" Asalt taunted, a devilish grin spread across his face. Suddenly Edwyn remembered once more, his brother was helping him during the first fight, he had a brother, now probably dead at the hands of the cackling mage standing before him. His vision turned red with blind rage, he struggled free from the grips of Natsu and Gray, running forward throwing a powerful punch at Asalt. Asalt caught the fist in his hand with ease, a shockwave emitting from the force. Edwyn gritted his teeth, pushing as much strength as possible into the punch. Asalt's grin turned into a grimace as he slid back a bit, he released Edwyn's hand and flipped backwards stopping himself quickly. Asalt ran forward releasing fireballs as he went. Natsu dove infront of the fireballs swallowing them up, much to the dismay of Asalt, and stood up wiping his mouth, "I'm all fired up!" Not giving the dark mage anytime Natsu burst at him his fist on fire, and punched him in the gut sending him flying. Edwyn and Gray followed up, slamming their fists into their palms, "Ice Make: Poles!", "Shadow Make: Poles!", sending both shadowy poles and frozen poles at the flying mage. They stopped for a second as their attacks connected, "You stole my move!" yelled one, "No, you stole _my_ move!" retorted the other. "Guys!" Natsu yelled, "Now is _not _the time!" "Shut up Pinky, we're arguing!" Edwyn yelled quickly, returning to his argument with Gray. "MY HAIR IS SALMON!" Natsu yelled, jumping into the middle of the argument.

While the mages argued, Asalt prepared a large attack, calling upon the depths of his energy, he sent a large pillar of fire towards the mages. Natsu noticed it first, he jumped in front of Gray and Edwyn, shielding them. He winced with pain, the flames, they burned! Why the hell did they burn? They seemed like normal flames, he had eaten them earlier without pain. "Having problems there, dragon slayer?" Asalt cackled from down the hall. "What the hell are you?" Natsu demanded. "Just your average demon." he replied, launching another pillar of fire. Natsu tried once more to eat the fire, but it still burned. "Don't you understand? I'm not _human_," he said amused, "I am a demon, always have been, always will. I joined Tartarus after me and my buddy, Friechen, massacred our old dark guild. I digress, my point is that my fire isn't dragon fire or god fire, nor any other type, it's hellfire!" Cackling wildly, he continued, "No matter what you try, dragon slayer, you'll always be burned because you're a mere mor-" Asalt stopped abruptly, a fist lodged in his stomach, "You talk too much." Natsu said, wincing in pain, due to his burns." "Wrong choice." Asalt said, his voice somewhat quivering in pain, leaning down and laughing in the dragon slayer's ear as he punched him, following up once more with a pillar of flame. The fire sent Natsu flying, Gray stopped him as he went by, and set him down. His clothes were singed, his vest nothing more than a few pieces of charred fabric, his pants in tattered, and his body covered in simmering burns.

The battle had gone on for a while, back and forth. Roxanne and Lucy joining in seemingly gave them an advantage. Friechen, though, had massive reserves of energy. If he felt fatigue, he didn't show it. The three mages stopped a bit down the hall and stared at him. "What are we going to do?" Roxanne asked, barely holding on to the courage required to fight her former captor. "We just continue fighting," Erza said re-quipping into her Purgatory Armor, "he can't possibly last much longer." Lucy summoned Loke, hoping that he would be enough of an advantage to allow them to win. "Hello, girls." The lion spirit said, pushing up his glasses. "I'm assuming we're fighting this wall." he said, turning towards Friechen, who was standing there, staring blankly towards them. "Yeah," Lucy said, "be careful though, he may be big, but he's fast." Erza charged forward, the rest quickly behind, Lucy wrapped her whip around the bald man, pulling him forward and releasing it before he could act. AS he stumbled Loke jumped hitting him with a glowing, divine fist, causing him to stumble backwards, only to have his legs knocked from under him by Erza. Roxanne ran forward jumping over the rest releasing a powerful roar, seemingly knocking him unconscious.

She landed next to him and her emotions took over, years of torture and pain turned into pure rage, fueling her revenge. She kicked his large head over and over as he laid there, her boot making a small crack on his head as she continued, Lucy and Erza tried to pull her back, but she kept kicking, tears falling from her eyes. Her anger turned into sorrow, eventually she stopped fighting the mages tugging on her she limply let them drag her back, streaks left on the floor from her bloodied boot. She leaned against a wall as they let her go. She looked at what she had done, the back of his head had a small dent and blood pouring from a crack in his head. He was still breathing, but barely. Her sobbing increased in strength and she hid her head between her hands. Lucy had talked with Erza, both upset with her, but also understanding. Roxanne had told about what this man had done in the past.

Erza, in a lapse of judgement, confronted Roxanne. "What were you thinking?" She said, looking down at the girl infront of her, "He is barely alive! What if you killed him? I will not have you killing anyone for some sort of revenge, no matter what he has done!" Roxanne looked up, tears still streaming. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" The red-haired mage said, trying to get a response. Roxanne stood up, visibly shaken, not just from the yelling, but from her own actions, "Screw... you." she said. "What?" "I," she began, taking in a shaky breath, "I said screw you. I may regret my actions, I know I shouldn't have done that, but I'm not gonna apologize for a _damn_ thing! So, screw you." Erza, still worked up, still lacked judgement. She slapped Roxanne carelessly, she didn't even flinch, she took the slap and sat back against the wall, rubbing the red mark on her face, her sobbing coming back full force. Erza simply stood there, looking at her hand shaking. Only once she slapped Roxanne did she realize what she was doing, she looked down at her. "I-I-I didn't... Roxanne, I'm sorry." Lucy, having witnessed it all, walked up, telling Erza to wait a bit, and kneeled by Roxanne, giving her a reassuring hug, "It's alright, she didn't mean it. I don't blame you for what you did. He was a demon from Tartarus, and he showed it in his past actions. Don't worry"

Asalt sat staring at the mages as they caught their friend. "Damnit, I think Natsu is out for a while." Gray said, standing up and turning to Asalt, he looked over at Edwyn, "You ready?" Edwyn nodded and the two ran towards Asalt. They both split off to his sides and flanked him, firing off attacks. The demon nimbly dodged, taunting them as they fired more attacks. "What happened Eddy? You were much more fun the last time we fought!" Edwyn ignored the taunting, fired off more attacks. In his arrogance, the demon slipped up taking black thorns to the shoulder and an icy missile to the side. He winced in pain, falling to the ground. Not allowing him any time, the two mages continued their barrages. "Alright," he said getting up once the barrage hesitated, "this isn't amusing anymore. In fact, I'm getting quite pissed." he said releasing a massive blast of hellfire.

Roxanne was still sitting there, her tears dry, and she had made up with Erza. Now all she could do was stare at his body, it had long since stopped breathing during the fiasco earlier. Erza and Lucy were standing and talking about what to do next. Roxanne noticed, while staring at the body, that it was decaying. Not into decomposed flesh, but into shadowy particles wisping up into the air, "Guys," she said, shocked, "the body!" They all turned to see the body disintegrating, only to be distracted by a large blast of heat, flames licking the edge of the hall. They ran to the edge of the pillar, ony to see it retreat back down the hall as quickly as it came. The group ran towards it.

Bursting into uncontrollable laughter, Asalt looked at the mages laying before him. Too caught up in the moment he failed to notice the absence of the third, pink-haired mage. He was about to deliver the final blow to the two mages on the ground when another pillar of fire erupted again, though not going very far through the halls. Once the fire was gone Asalt looked down to see Natsu with his flaming fist inside of his chest. "H-h-how?" he asked. He looked up, choking back blood and looked to see three more mages turning around the hall. He soon dissolved as did Freichen. Roxanne watched as the last reminder of her torment faded out of existence at the hand of Natsu. "He's not dead." Natsu said to the others, falling to the ground soon after.

"Damnit you two," boomed a voice, "how did you fall to those mages?"


	13. War

AN: I'm going to be taking a break. Sorry for the short chapter, but this is the last one for a bit.

* * *

Edwyn awoke bandaged and laying in a bed. "Not another freaking bed." Edwyn groaned and laid back. "You're awake!" a voice rang from the other side of the room. Edwyn looked up to see Roxanne walking quickly over to his bed. He looked to see Erza and Lucy, both asleep where Roxanne had walked from. He looked over and saw Natsu and Gray both bandaged and laying in beds also. "So, am I gonna be confined to this bed for weeks?" Roxanne shook her head, a small smile. "I'm assuming that since Asalt was there, you guys had to fight Freichen?" She nodded solemnly. "Where you hurt at all?" "No, not really, a few bruises and cuts." Edwyn pat the bed next to him, signaling for her to sit down. He sat up and put his arm over her shoulder and she leaned in. He winced at first as she touched a burn. "What's wrong?" he asked, "you seem upset." "I finished him," she said, "I killed Freichen, they tried to stop me," she inhaled sharply wiping her eyes, "I lost control and k- I kicked his head in while he was unconscious. There was a dent and large bleeding wound when I was done. My boot was covered in blood." She sobbed into his chest. Not knowing what to say he held her in silence, looking over the room he saw that a few of the others had woken up. They sat, giving sympathetic looks to the crying girl, eventually going to sleep leaving the two alone. "So," Edwyn said, breaking the silence, "are you gonna leave me alone tonight or sleep here?" She didn't answer, but instead pulled the covers tighter and snuggled into his side. "I take it your staying." he said, closing his eyes to sleep.

"Food?" Natsu said suddenly bursting awake. He smelled food and nothing would keep him from it, almost as if her were on auto pilot he burst from the bed towards it, the sight must have been terrifying to the maid holding the plate as she threw it down and ran off. The ruckus caused everyone to wake up. Most of the food was gone in an instant. He shoved the last bit down before anybody would notice. "Natsu," Erza asked, "why are you out of bed and what did you do to that maid?" Natsu gulped, preparing for the iminent torrent of punishment. He laid in bed, afterwards, with his arms crossed and bruises to add onto his burns. Roxanne stirred and woke up soon after, looking around, only Lucy and Edwyn were still asleep. She crawled out of bed and stretched, ignoring the others in the room for fear of meeting their gazes. Though she had no reason to be, she was nervous. She walked over and sat with the others for a while, looking up when the door opened and the chubby man from before, a former council member, walked in. He mostly stood there, waiting for the last asleep in the room to awake. Once they did he began, "Now that you're all awake, I would like to thank you all. I know it wasn't easy, but I must thank you for what you've done. I could here the struggle from my room, as much as I would've liked to help, I am worthless in my old age." He looked around then continued, "I know that this will not be the end of attacks, but you should head back to your guild and rest there. I am sure I will be fine for now. Tartaros most likely would not attack directly after they lost two of their own." "Do you know what they want from the council members?" Gray asked. The man thought for a while, "No, no I honestly don't, I wish I did."

The cold air bit at them as they stood at the station. Roxanne pulled her jacket tighter around her, waiting for the train to pull up. It wasn't the train that would head back to Magnolia, but onward to towns beyond. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Gray were going to the home of the next council member, Roxanne and Edwyn would head back to Magnolia the next day. A light cut through the chilly, dark night. A whistle sounded through the air, smoke emenating as the train chugged through it's piston causing loud, slow noises to ring about. The train stopped and the doors opened, allowing the passengers to bustle out flooding the station. The four departing mages walked towards the doors, Natsu hesitating before being dragged against his will. Roxanne and Edwyn waved them off, their breath visible in the frigid air. As the train started to pull out, the two stood there, enjoying the warmth that the engine and pistons provided to the station. The train left quickly and so did the warmth it provided to the station. Roxanne and Edwyn left the station and returned to the mansion.

Upon arrival, the two saw that construction workers were working quickly on repairs to the home. There were also men moving in items to replace some of the destroyed ones. Edwyn and Roxanne walked to their room. They entered and rather than sleep, began packing and preparing to leave the next day. "So," Edwyn asked, "What's next?" "Hmm?" "What's next? We get back to the guild and then what? I mean we are at _war _with Tartaros, they've incapacitated, nearly killed some of our strongest mages. They've killed members of the council and more importantly innocent people. How do _we, _you and I, fall in place? What's next?" Edwyn said anxiety and worry, but also a dull throb of excitement, flowing through him. "I," Roxanne replied, "I dont know." "I think I do," he said, a smirk upon his face, "We fight."


	14. Training

AN: And so I return. I doubt I'll continue the daily chapters though, it burned me out quite quickly.

* * *

"So," rumbled an unearthly voice, "the fairies dare challenge us?" "Yes." replied another voice. "How many of our own have been defeated?" the rumbling voice went on. "So far we aren't sure. Freichen and Asalt are the only ones so far. I belive the Fairy Tail mages thought them to be dead." the smaller voice replied once more. A raspy chuckle resonated through the air. "Ignorant mortals." The owner of the rumbling voice sat back in his chair and thought a while. "What do you think about attacking their guild while unprepared. I believe that their strongest mages are gone at the moment." "I wouldn't advise it sir," she replied, "while most of the strongest are gone, our scouts say that their ace mage, Gildarts, is on his way to Magnolia."

* * *

"Alright everyone," a voice boomed from the bar, silencing the lively guild, "as you know, we are at war with the dark guild Tartarus. I need not stress the importance that you all begin training. We know not when they will attack or how many. We do know, however, they are strong. We will need you all to be prepared, if the need be, to be sent to fight." Cheers of agreement flooded the guild. "I'd also like you to congratulate our mages who've been successful in defeating those from Tartarus." continued Makarov. It had been a few days since the incident, Edwyn and Roxanne returned to Magnolia and rested for a while. Resting and celebrating their victory over the Tartarus demons. Natsu and the others were still in a city beyond Magnolia protecting a different council member. Team Shadow Gear had also left. With Laxus and the others in the infirmary, the strongest were either gone or incapable of fighting. The guild was lively and celebrating at the words of Makarov. "Settle down everyone," he said, clearing his voice, "we're going to get ready for training. Everyone get out to the back of the guild and we'll start shortly." The mages began to stand up and head outside when trumpets sounded and voices all around Magnolia cried, "Gildarts Shift!"

"What's going on?" Edwyn asked Roxanne as the city rumbled and shifted all around, "I don't know." she replied, just as confused. "A Gildarts Shift," said Mirajane who standing near them at the time, "is called whenever Fairy Tail's strongest mage, our ace, Gildarts returns home from an SS-Class mission." "SS-Class mission?" they asked, confused. "One question at a time," she continued, "anyways, Gildarts is a crash mage, a very dangerous type of magic, and he tends to not pay attention. He could walk through walls and not notice, that's why a Gildarts Shift is called. The whole city shifts and changes to accommodate him, and for the protection of the citizens and their homes." The two nodded in understanding as a man walked through the guild door. Looking at the hole he left, he scratched his head then reconstructed it. "Hey everyone." The silence that had washed over the guild was soon broken as greetings and cheers of joy burst throughout the air. The crash mage made his way through the crowd of mages and over to Makarov at the bar "So," he asked, looking at everyone about to walk out, "what is everyone doing?" "They're about to go outside and begin training, Gildarts, you do know about the war with Tartarus, right?." Makarov said seriously, staring at the mage. Gildarts closed his eyes for a moment, "Ahh, Tartarus. I ran into a few of their own unfortunate enough to attack me." He looked up at Makarov and continued, "I heard, on my way back, about some of our own defeating some Tartarus mages, I know Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Natsu, but who are the others that helped. I'd like to talk with them." Makarov nodded and yelled above the crowd, "Roxanne, Edwyn! Come here for a moment!"

The two turned from their conversation with Mirajane as they heard their names. "Better head up there." she said, smiling. As they navigated through the mass of mages, milling about, Roxanne asked, "What do you think he wants?" Edwyn shrugged, leading her through the crowd. They reached the front in relatively good time. "Ah, good," Makarov said, "this is Roxanne," he pointed at the raven-haired mage in front of him, "and this is Edwyn." he pointed to the taller mage beside Roxanne. "Obviously," Gildarts said, somewhat exasperated, "I can tell which is which by the names alone." he sat there then turned to Makarov again, "Do you think I'm stupid?" "No, no, not at all." Roxanne and Edwyn stood there, not saying a word. "So you two are new mages to Fairy Tail, am I right?" "Well," Roxanne spoke up, "we've been here about a month, so yes sir, we're pretty new." Gildarts laughed and patted her on the back, the sudden force causing her to cough a bit, "No need to be formal, call me Gildarts." She nodded, and rubbed her back a bit where he hit. "So you wanted to see us?" Edwyn asked, a hint of confusion showing upon his face. "Yea," he said, still eyeing the mages before him, "I wanted to meet the two who helped Natsu and the others fight the Tartarus demons." They sat silent as he thought for a moment, "You guys don't seem to strong," he said, whether he meant offense or not was not obvious, "but you have potential. Since everyone's gonna start training, what do you say I train you two personally?" The two agreed to it. Who could turn down being personally trained by Fairy Tail's strongest mage? "Great!" he said, then told them to meet him outside of Magnolia.

Roxanne and Edwyn left the guild and made their way towards the training spot. Edwyn was brimming with excitement and made no effort to contain it. "I never knew you had this much energy." Roxanne said, smiling at Edwyn who was bouncing like an excited child. "We're going to train with Fairy Tail's strongest mage, you can't tell me you're not excited." She giggled a bit and shook her head, "I'm just as excited as you, but I don't want to waste energy by jumping around." He stopped and frowned at her. "What?" He sniffed the air and looked around a bit then turned his head to her, "Nothing, I just think I smell a party pooper." He continued walking with a large grin. Roxanne laughed, "You're so immature sometimes." "You're too serious sometimes." She hit him lightly in the arm, "Me? Too serious? That's pretty funny coming from you." Edwyn shrugged the comment off and continued excitedly down the road.

Nearing the training spot Edwyn's excitement flooded out once more. He grabbed Roxanne's hand and began running as fast as he could. Soon they were in the clearing that Gildarts had detailed. It was empty as he had not shown up yet. Roxanne took the moments before his arrival to sit down against a tree and catch her breath. "Was the running necessary?" she asked between pants and looked up at him. He just nodded with a grin, showing no sign of fatigue from the earlier sprinting. He turned and walked over to her, "I thought you'd have more endurance than me, being a dragon slayer and all." She stuck her tongue out and said, "Shut up."

"Alright, you two ready?" Gildarts asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. The two nodded and Edwyn helped Roxanne up. "Now, to start off, I'm going to say that since none of us have the same magic I can't teach you any new techniques. I will be doing strength training , other training to increase your magic energy capacity, and training to increase the strength of your magic attacks. Any questions?" "No." the two replied. "Great," the crash mage said with a smile, "let's get to it."

They started with seemingly meaningless tedious exercises and tests. The mages patience began to wear thin and Edwyn's excitement slowly dissipated. They didn't dare comment on their boredom or the seeming pointlessness of the training so far. "Now," Gildarts said, stopping momentarily, "I would save this for tomorrow, but I want a real test of your abilities. Both of you, seeing as you work well together, attack me and try to take me down. Show no restraint." Edwyn and Roxanne exchanged glances and got ready to attack.

Roxanne decided to go first, with a grunt she dug her heel into the ground and launched herself forward. Her arm turned to shining gem scales and delivered a powerful punch. Her punch was stopped short by Gildarts' hand. While Gildarts was occupied with Roxanne, Edwyn, pulling heavily upon his magic, slammed his hand into his fist and yelled, "Shadow Make: Hammer!" A massive hammer appeared above the crash mage and was brought down, leaving shadowy wisps behind it as it dropped with massive speed, the crash mage didn't even look up and raised his hand, catching the hammer and causing it to shatter into millions of pieces. As the hammer was destroyed Edwyn shot forward a shadowy pole. The pole hit him dead-on in the chest as his hands were busy. He didn't flinch as the pole hit him and disappeared instead he let out a chuckle and said, "Good teamwork, but your attacks need work." The two, deterred by his chuckling hesitated in continuing attacking, "We're not done, we just began." Edwyn protested. "No, you're done for today. That showed me what I needed to see. I can also tell you two are tired, go home and rest, but don't forget to meet me here tomorrow."

"It's almost night, I didn't realize how long we've been training." Roxanne said, looking up at the sky while walking alongside Edwyn. He just grunted, frustrated that the training wasn't as he expected. "Oh lighten up," she said grabbing his hand, "you'll get your chance to prove yourself tomorrow. It's late now, though, so let's go grab some food." Edwyn sighed and didn't argue.

The two finished their dinner and left. The moon was high in the sky as they walked down the street. It's glow kept the empty streets dimly lit. "Goodnight Roxanne, see ya tomorrow." Edwyn said, about to turn around and head towards some unknown destination. "Nope, it's too late out and I know you don't have a place to stay. You're coming with me." She once again grabbed his hand and began leading him to her apartment. "Speaking of that, we really need to get you an apartment. I don't think it's too good of an idea for you to continue sleeping wherever you drop." "I don't need a place though, I've been doing fine sleeping wherever I want." Roxanne shook her head and sighed.

Upon reaching the apartment Roxanne took out her key and unlocked the door. They walked into the spacious apartment, the moonlight filtering in from behind the curtains giving the apartment a barely visible glow. Roxanne flipped the light switch. The sudden light caused Edwyn to recoil a bit. "This is a nice place," he said, looking around, "I think this is the first time I've actually seen it." "I tried to convince you to stay here when we got back after the Tartarus incident." she said, closing and locking the door. "Well," he said, still examining her apartment, "I... I have no excuse for that." She laughed then disappeared into her room for a moment while Edwyn looked around, coming out in a loose t-shirt and pajama bottoms, "This is much more comfortable." Edwyn stretched and followed her lead, pulling off his shirt to get ready for bed, "As pointless as those exercises seemed, they sure did make me damn sore." Roxanne nodded in agreement.

As Edwyn began to lay on the couch he heard Roxanne taunt from the doorway of her bedroom, "Oh, so now you're too chicken to sleep with me now that we're back in Magnolia?" she sighed, leaning on the frame of the door, "It's like we're back to square one." She turned around and walked to her bed, only to be joined by another person soon after. She felt an arm wrap around her and pull her in. "I knew that'd get you." There was no response, she didn't mind and soon fell into a peaceful sleep.


	15. Gone

A faint bustling was heard from the streets below as the bright sun was rising to the sky and everyone flooded into the streets.. Edwyn opened his eyes to find the sunlight coming from the window. He rolled out of bed and began to stretch, his muscles still sore from the training the day before. He looked at the bed and found Roxanne still sleeping. The clock in the room showed 7:00 A.M. still hours before their daily training begins. The mage turned and began to get ready for the day. He left the room and walked to the kitchen. It was quite silent in the apartment, the only sound the faint ticking of a clock. He poured some cold milk into a bowl of cereal and looked up to see Roxanne yawning and walking in from the bedroom. "Good morning." he said. grabbing a spoon. She grumbled out a good morning, obviously half asleep, then said, "If you would've waited I could have cooked you breakfast." Edwyn shrugged, his mouth full of cereal. Roxanne made herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the small wooden table just outside of the kitchen. "We still have a few hours before we're supposed to meet Gildarts." Edwyn said, joining her at the table. Roxanne nodded and took another spoonful of cereal.

Cold winds began to blow harshly. A dull heat radiated from the center of a cold large chamber. "Sir." a voice called out. The rumbling response came slowly, but echoed through the chamber, "I did not send for you! Why are you bothering me?" The woman, seemingly undisturbed, replied, "I have a very important report." "Go on." "Another of our own has fallen at the hands of Fairy Tail mages. Also, Gildarts has arrived in Magnolia. Our scouts say that he is also personally training two mages." The wind stopped abruptly causing the chamber to turn silent. The fire in the center began flickering casting shadows all around. "So, I trust my men to take care of one damned job, kill a damn council member and they can't do that? No, no, it's not them. It's those mages, Fairy Tail." The voice fell silent, a small bit of laughter piercing the chamber, "I guess the time to act is upon us. Their reckoning is nigh, I hope they're prepared for the wrath of hell."

"You've got to focus!" Gildarts yelled, deflecting another attack with ease. Edwyn slid back his face red and sweaty. Roxanne burst forward, releasing a roar and following up with an elbow. Both were defended easily, Gildarts frowned, "Put more effort into it! I told you not to hold back, try to take me down!" Edwyn frowned, he was trying as hard as he could. Frustration was building up as none of his attacks were landing. He attacked once more only to have it deflected. "I told you to focus! Your acting upon frustration, you won't hit me that way." Roxanne lunged in with a flurry of punches and kicks, landing a few. "Good!" Gildarts said, obviously not affected by the attacks that landed. The sight frustrated Edwyn even more, he breathed heavily trying to calm himself. He closed his eyes and focused. Edwyn pulled upon his magic, feeling more power than before, he reveled in it before releasing an attack with newfound speed. As the shadows dissipated from the attack, Gildarts had a smile on his face, "You finally did it!" Edwyn looked at the mage and noticed that he had slid back, it was a very slight movement, maybe not even an inch, but he had caused him to move and was proud of that. The two continued their barrage of attacks until finally Gildarts called for them to stop. "Already you two have made progress, a few more days and there will be a massive difference from when we started. That being said, go home and rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

A loud crash broke the silence followed by flashes of light and more crashes. A storm. Edwyn groaned, recently there has been nothing but storms. He rolled over to look up at a clock, 5 A.M. He had been asleep longer than he thought. Shivering he stood up to put on a shirt, the room was abnormally cold. He turned to look at the bed, Roxanne was gone. More thunder broke through the morning silence. If it had not been for him checking the clock he would've thought it was around midnight from the darkness outside. He walked into the living room looking for Roxanne. The apartment was dark, no sign of her anywhere, he called out for her although she was nowhere to be found, he received no response as he had expected. He turned and put on his jacket although it wouldn't keep him very dry. He left and walked out into the storm, he know where to check, but he still made his way towards the guild.

The doors creaked in protest as Edwyn slowly opened them. He was surprised that even early in the morning the guild was lively as ever. He entered the guild, the noise soon engulfing him, as the doors closed and the chatter became louder the storm seemed to disappear. Inside the guild the only sign that a storm was raging outside were the constant flashes of lightning showing through the windows. Edwyn walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the comfortable chairs. Mirajane walked over to Edwyn, a glass in her hand, "You're here early" she said, polishing the already clean glass. He sat for a second before he replied, "Roxanne hasn't come in has she?" Mirajane continued polishing her glass then shook her head, "No, no she hasn't. She might be at the place where you train with Gildarts, have you checked there?" Running his thumb over a stain on the bar he looked up and said, "No I don't think she'd be there, we still have a long time before we're supposed to meet him." "I wouldn't worry about her, just go home and rest while you have time." "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Mira." The white-haired mage smiled and waved as he walked off.

_Thump. Thump._ Her heartbeat was the only noise. She opened her eyes and found herself in a completely white room. The walls and floors seemed somehow seamless. The ceiling seemed to be nothing but a large light. She was sitting in a small wooden chair, the only color disrupting the white abyss before her. Roxanne stood up, her heart racing, thoughts filled her mind, her location the forefront. A door opened from somewhere and a voice called from an indescernable location, "Please sit down, Roxanne." The voice was soothing and kind, yet something seemed off about it. She sat down, still confused. A silver-haired man walked into view, something seemed familiar about him. "Ah, here we are. Now, before we begin, are you comfortable?" Roxanne just stared at her feet, ignoring the man before her. "I said," the man grabbed her chin and lifted her face to meet his, "are you comfortable." She nodded, her heart rate still steadily rising. The man flashed an unusual grin, it seemed pained, "Good, good. Good!" He let out a small chuckle and a large sigh before kneeling down, inches from her face and saying, "You know, it's rude to not respond to your host."

His words escaped her as he went on monolouging about himself, she just watched him. His movements seemed somewhat sporadic and unearthly, twitching now and then. His eyes were odd, a swirling pool of violet for irises, and his pupils erratically grew and shrank. Her thoughts were interrupted when he came over and looked down at her, "You haven't been listening, have you?" He shook his head, exhaling deeply, "You... haven't been listening." He ran his hand over his face, "You listen to me when I talk to you! Do you hear me? I demand your full respect and attention!" Her temper got the better of her, she had tried to plan an escape, but his yelling made her snap. She sent a gist flying towards his face at full speed, only to have it caught instantly. "Now, now, that's a bit rude. Here I am showing you hospitality. I gave you a chair to sit in! I didn't even bind you to it like most would! I allowed you to sit free of restraints and you squandered it!" Roxanne tried to attack once more with a headbutt, but once more the attack failed. "You just don't get it, you're much too weak. Besides, as I've said before, that is no way to treat your host," he released her and walked off, soon disappearing from sight, she heard the sound of a door opening in the distance, "Moreover, that's no way to treat your, what should I call him, I don't know _lover's _brother." With that the door slammed shut.


End file.
